


Curveball

by MaroonCamaro



Series: Curveball [1]
Category: The Walking Dead & Related Fandoms, The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Student/Teacher, Anal Sex, Angst, Awkward Crush, Awkwardness, Baseball, Blow Jobs, Canonical Child Abuse, First Love, First Time, Frottage, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kissing, Loss of Virginity, M/M, Not Underage, Pining, Poor Daryl Dixon, Self-Induced Orgasms, Shameless References to Classic Rock, Teacher-Student Relationship, There's a Tornado
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-20
Updated: 2017-10-20
Packaged: 2018-11-16 10:18:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 36
Words: 106,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11251116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaroonCamaro/pseuds/MaroonCamaro
Summary: Rick's life was perfect. Perfect wife, perfect kid, perfect house, and perfect job. And for the first time since becoming head coach at his old high school, they have a chance to go to state. All because of their late blooming pitcher. Daryl Dixon didn't join the team until his senior year and he had a fastball that could get him a scholarship.But then Rick's perfect wife decided maybe Rick wasn't so perfect. And his star pitcher has eyes on more than a championship.As the team keeps winning and moving closer to the state championship, Rick goes further and further down a path that he knows won't end well. Eventually he will have to make a decision that will change everything, but will it be for the good? Or will it be the end of Rick's perfect life?**Daryl is 18, but still a High School Senior**





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TWDObsessive](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TWDObsessive/gifts).



> Hello everyone! So this is the long awaited chapter fic that I’ve been teasing you about. I actually started on this around the time that I posted Nut Hand and Lost in the Woods, but I put it aside for other fics, and it sat and waited for over a year. I picked it up again last fall and have been working on it off and on since then. 
> 
> My goal was to get this done for TWDObsessive’s birthday, and I just made it under the wire! So, this is for her. Happy birthday! 
> 
> The story is complete, because I have an intense fear of not finishing a fic and leaving it as a WIP forever. I still have to clean up each chapter before posting, but it is finished. 
> 
> I would like to thank TWDObsessive for betaing her own gift fic. She’s pretty awesome as far as I’m concerned. 
> 
> I also want to thank 1Lostone for being my baseball guru. I know as much as the average fan, but her knowledge is encyclopedic and invaluable.
> 
> The folks at the RWG also deserve a thanks for all of their help over the long process of writing this fic. Especially Katytheinspiredworkaholic, Justley, April Valentine, Noonesangel_Noonesbitch, BennyHatter, Starfire_Wildheart and anyone else who sat up with me as I wrote or sent me encouraging messages, it was truly kind of you and helped me immensely.
> 
> And I would be remiss if I didn’t thank MermaidSheenaz for looking over it way back in 2015 and telling me that it wasn’t crap. Thank you.
> 
> I hope you enjoy it.

“Strike three!”

Rick jumped from the dugout where he'd been nervously leaning against the rail to run out with the rest of his team to the lanky kid on the mound. The boy who had just won his first high school baseball game.

The young pitcher was grinning with just a small show of his teeth, shy even in his moment of triumph. He seemed a bit shocked and overwhelmed by the team coming up to engulf and tackle him there on the mound.

“Way to go, Daryl!” Glenn shouted right in Rick's ear as they made it to the mound.

“Good job, buddy!” Rick grabbed the boy in a tight hug, but then toppled over as the rest of the team caught up to them, the weight of all the players too much for Daryl to handle.

Rick was laughing, Daryl was laughing, hell, the whole world was laughing. Rick had a good feeling about this kid and this team. They might even get to go to state this year. Best not think about that right now though, it was only the first game of the season.

After the appropriate time of joyous tumbling, the rest of the team started peeling off the dog pile. Rick hadn't been able to really see or hear anything for a while because he was near the very bottom. When most of the weight finally was gone and he could see, he looked to Daryl beneath him.

Daryl was looking at Rick, and only Rick. His smile was a bit dimmer now, a bit shyer. As though it was only for Rick. And Rick realized with a feeling like a kick to the stomach that not only was he laying on Daryl, he was knee to knee, hip to hip, chest to chest. A very inappropriate position to be with a high school student if you were their teacher and coach.

Rick scrambled up as soon as he was able and reached a hand down to help Daryl up. He wrapped an arm around the pitcher's shoulders and escorted him off the field.

“DQ for everyone!” Shane called out to the team, earning a shout from the team and the parents. “I'm only paying for the team!”

A few chuckles and not so few groans came from the parents congratulating their players. It was an old joke. Shane, the assistant coach, always paid for the kids after winning a game. And there were always parents trying to save a buck and get free ice cream.

While the kids and parents meander to their vehicles Rick and Shane went back to the dugout to make sure all their gear had been cleaned up and to collect all the coaching equipment.

“I'm so glad you convinced him to join the team. Just wish we could have gotten him freshman year instead of senior year. Maybe we’d have won more than a handful of games over the last few seasons,” Rick said to Shane as he threw a duffle bag over his shoulder.

They'd been teammates in high school, Rick had only played baseball, but Shane had played football too. Shane had injured his knee during a football game when the two had been in college, but he hadn't let it make him bitter. He'd even told Rick he was kind of glad because he didn't know if he could handle the pressure of a professional career.

Once they had everything squared away, Rick looked around for his new star player and saw him talking to Glenn. The exuberant kid was about the only person Rick had ever seen go out of his way to talk to Daryl. Most of the others gave Daryl his space.

Rick walked over to the two boys, gave a little wave to Daryl and said, “See ya there, kid.”

Glenn gave him a funny look that Rick couldn’t interpret before walking away.

Daryl's smile slipped a bit and he looked around sheepishly, “I ain't got any money for ice cream and I ain't got a ride.”

Rick frowned at him before looking around the swirl of people, trying to find Daryl's parents. Not that he would know what they looked like. They hadn't come for parent teacher night and he'd never seen anyone pick up Daryl from baseball practice.

“Shane's paying, no need to spend your own money. I'll talk to your parents if you think they won't let you go.”

“Ain't like that,” Daryl was already shaking his head as he looked down at his feet, scuffing the dirt up. “I don't want any more charity. And my dad's not here for me to ask.”

“Daryl, the only reason we can go get ice cream is because you won the game. And it's not charity, it's a gift for winning the game,” Rick explained to him.

Daryl had pulled away from Rick and was going to the dugout to get his backpack and gear, really just his batting helmet, glove, and the bottle of water Rick had given him before the game.

Rick could see all the other kids loading into cars, smiling and laughing.  They didn't notice the little drama unfolding right on the edge of the field between their coach and the new kid on the team. Neither did their parents, or the coaching staff, or the opposing team. Everyone else was so wrapped up in their own little world. Rick was always amazed how people could do that, not notice what's going on around them.

“Tell coach Walsh I appreciate the offer, but I gotta get home,” Daryl said as he came out of the dugout, slinging his battered backpack over his shoulder.

“If you need a ride, you can ride with me,” Rick offered.

Daryl blinked and looked away, staring at nothing as he contemplated the offer. He looked back over to Rick and then shook his head.

“Nah, I ...”

Rick cut him off, “It'll just be a half hour. I'll drive you straight home after. Everyone's gonna be bummed if you don't show up.”

Daryl looked away again, this time to the now nearly empty parking lot. Rick couldn't guess what was going through his mind. Was he really that shy? Everyone knew him to be quiet and a classic introvert, but he'd just won his first baseball game. Surely he'd want to celebrate?

Rick put a hand on Daryl’s shoulder, causing the boy to jump. He immediately dropped his hand; Daryl didn't like to be touched. Everyone knew that. He'd shy away from anyone who tried. Which, now that he was thinking about it, made the first few minutes after the game an anomaly. Maybe he had been so excited about winning, he hadn't noticed.

“You sure it will only be a half hour?” Daryl asked him.

“Yes, we can set the timer on my phone if you'd like,” Rick said, brandishing his phone.

“Ok, but you don't have to drive me all the way home, just to the park.” Rick was so happy he'd gotten Daryl to go, he didn't even wonder why the caveat was added.

“Great! Let's go before Shane figures out he's going to have to do this every Thursday for the season. You got a great arm kid.”

Rick walked him over to his truck, a red Chevy Silverado 4x4. He loved that truck. It was a little loud, and had a bit of rust, and the engine light was always on for no damn reason, but it was bought and paid for, and he wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Rick unlocked Daryl's door for him with the key (no fancy remote lock for his truck) before walking around and unlocking his door and climbing in.

Buckling the seatbelt and putting his left foot on the clutch pedal to start the truck was so second nature to him by now, he didn't even think about it. He looked over to Daryl to make sure he had buckled up and saw the kid look at him with a bit of surprise.

“What?”

“It's a stick.”

“Yeah, hard to find new ones with a stick,” Rick told him.

“Nobody drives a stick anymore,” Daryl said with a little awe.

Rick laughed, “Some of us do!"

“Hrmph” was all Daryl had to say to that.

“What kind of music do you like?" Rick asked him.

“Anything but country or rap.”

“LMFAO?” Rick asked.

Rick had to laugh at the disbelieving look that Daryl gave him, “Just kidding.”

He turned on the radio that was already on his favorite rock station. 'Light My Fire' by The Doors soon wafted through the cab of the truck, a favorite of Rick’s.

“Good song,” was all Daryl said.

The rest of the ride was quiet except for when Rick would hum along with the song playing on the radio. The Dairy Queen was only a few miles from the school, so it didn't take long to get there. Daryl had watched Rick shift gears the whole ride over. The gear shifter was on the floor and took up a lot of space, so when Rick got into 5 th  gear, his hand brushed Daryl's knee.

Daryl had scooted back in his seat and moved his knees closer together. Rick chose to ignore the movement. If he didn't make a big deal about it, then hopefully it wouldn't make Daryl feel even more uncomfortable.

The parking lot was nearly full when they got there, so Rick had to park in the back. As they walked up the crowd sitting outside gave a cheer. Daryl turned around and looked behind him.

“That's for you!” Rick laughed and told him.

Daryl ducked his head and tried to wave off the cheers, but they continued until they got into the restaurant.

“There's that arm!” Leave it to Shane to pare down an athlete to a single body part.

“Need more than an arm to be a good pitcher, Shane,” Rick told him with a smile. It was actually an old joke between the two. While Shane had been a great hitter and a good outfielder, Rick had been an extraordinary pitcher and a terrible hitter.

“Yeah, yeah. Here's your Blizzard.” Shane knew Rick’s order never changed, always Oreo blizzard. Why mess with a classic?

“What can I get you?” He asked Daryl.

“You really don't have to get me anything,” Daryl tried again to brush off the free treat.

“I don't have to do anything but pay taxes and die. Now I want to buy you an ice cream. Pick something out,” Shane said as he gestured to the menu hanging above the counter.

Daryl looked over the menu carefully. It occurred to Rick that he hadn't been here before and that made his heart hurt a bit. He looked over to Shane and saw he must have been thinking the same thing because he had a small frown on his previously jovial face.

“I'll take a small vanilla cone,” Daryl finally ordered.

“Like hell,” Shane wasn't about to let him get away with a something so plain.

“It's fine, I gotta go eat dinner in a bit and I uh, don't want to ruin my appetite,” Daryl attempted.

“It's a special occasion, and you're a growing boy. Ain't never seen a teenage boy turn down a meal. Now pick what you really want,” Shane said, leaning back on the counter and crossing his arms.

Daryl had his hand on the edge of the counter, rubbing a thumb back and forth, catching his nail on the marred trim on the way. He sighed and looked up at the menu again.

“A medium cone,” Shane made a noise in his throat, “dipped in chocolate.”

Shane's eyes met Rick's and he raised an eyebrow. Rick shook his head slightly, now was not the time to delve into whatever the kid's problems were. They had all season to work on that. Being a high school baseball coach was more than just batting averages and running bases.

As soon as Daryl got his cone he turned and walked outside, eating it in big bites as he went.

“You'll get a brain freeze!” Shane called after him, laughing.

The coaches followed Daryl outside to see him trying to fold in on himself, working so hard to be invisible while the folks there wanted to laud his win. Hiding his face behind his long and shaggy hair, he worked on eating the cone as quickly as possible, obviously wanting out of the spotlight.

“Poor kid. I bet he's never had so many people looking at him all at once,” Rick said.

“He's shy s'all,” Shane replied.

“Maybe,” was all Rick could say.

By then Daryl'd finished his ice cream and was looking around for Rick. He walked over to where Rick had been wrangled by one of the single moms and cleared his throat.

“Can you take me home now, Coach?” Daryl asked.

“Sure thing, Daryl,” Rick nodded to the clingy woman and motioned Daryl to walk ahead of him.

Daryl waited next to the truck for Rick, biting his thumb nail and looking anywhere but at the crowd of people laughing and enjoying the beautiful spring day. 

Rick needed to work on his best pitcher's confidence, he planned on getting him to college on the talent the kid had. At this point he had great potential, but if he doubted himself or his talent, he would be dead in the water, never getting past playing in high school.

"Hey, you deserve their praise, Daryl." Rick said as he put his key in the passenger side door to unlock it.

"Don't like people looking at me," Daryl protested as he waited for Rick to open the door.

Rick stayed in front of the door, blocking Daryl from getting in the truck. Now was a good a time as any to start working on that confidence.

"You're a great pitcher, a good student, and all around decent guy. There is no reason for you to not hold your head up," Rick said with as much conviction as he could.

Daryl bit his lip and looked at Rick through his bangs, like he wasn't used to people pointing out the good things about him.

"I gotta get home," Daryl avoided the subject, looking pointedly at the truck door behind Rick.

Rick sighed and moved out of Daryl's way. Small steps, he reminded himself.

Rick unlocked his door and slid into the driver's seat. He looked over to Daryl and was startled to see the boy's intense gaze directed at him. He smiled at Daryl in hopes of making the unassuming kid feel more comfortable, but his smile seemed to do the opposite. Daryl gasped and turned red, quickly dropping his gaze and pulling into himself again.

Sighing and shaking his head, Rick started the truck and put it in reverse. Or tried to, he couldn't get it to stay in gear. It was always a little hard to shift the truck into reverse, maybe that was why the engine light was on. He really didn't want to deal with this now, most of the team and their parents were sitting just a few yards behind him, and Shane would be watching too. Shane would never let him live it down if he couldn't get the truck in gear, or worse, stalled it.

"Try putting it in first and rollin' forward a bit," Daryl suggested after Rick had tried shoving it in gear for the third time.

It sounded like a better plan than trying to just forcing it in gear which wasn't working. Rick followed Daryl's direction and the truck shifted smoothly into reverse. Flashing Daryl another big grin, he backed out of the parking spot.

“I never thought of that. How did you know that would work?” Rick asked in amazement.

“Miss Rose that lives a few houses down from me drives an old El Camino and it has the same problem. She sometimes asks me to drive her to the store.”

“That's awful nice of you, Daryl.”

“Nah, I get to drive a classic car, even if it is mostly rust,” Daryl finally smiled a small smile at Rick.

Rick laughed at Daryl's cheekiness and pulled out of the parking lot. It was nice to see him open up a bit. Maybe talking cars would be Rick's 'in' with the shy kid.

The radio was playing 'Love in an Elevator' by Aerosmith. Rick couldn't help but sing along, but when it got to 'going down?' he stopped and looked over to see if Daryl was even paying attention.

Daryl wasn't paying attention to what Rick was singing, he was staring at Rick's hand on the gearshift, seemingly fascinated by the actions of shifting the truck.

“I think I'm going the wrong way,” he said to Daryl.

Daryl's head shot up and he looked out the window, taking in their location, “We can still get there from here, just turn up there at the gas station.”

Rick shifted lanes and turned down the side street.

“Sorry about that, kinda went into auto-pilot and just started going home.”

“Happens,” was Daryl's brief reply.

Rick wasn't sure which way to go from the direction they were now going, he looked over to Daryl again to ask for the next turn.

“Where's the next turn?” he asked after a moment.

“Jus' go straight 'til we get to the on ramp for the highway. It's the next turn after that.” Daryl answered.

Rick nodded his head, he knew where the on ramp was, he'd just never gone this way to get there. They were on a side road that looked to be long past due for a repaving, with potholes and and rough patches. He had to slow down to avoid causing them to bang their head each time he hit one.

'The Lemon Song' by Led Zeppelin came on the radio and that made Rick blush, he reached to turn the station, but Daryl interjected.

“You are not turning off Led Zeppelin.” Daryl was actually giving him a steely eyed glare.

“The lyrics are pretty suggestive, I'm not sure it's appropriate,” Rick said.

“I've heard the song before, Coach.”

Right, of course he had. That didn't make Rick feel any more comfortable sitting in the truck with a student while Robert Plant sung about someone squeezing his lemon.

“How 'bout we turn it down and you can tell me how come you're just now playing senior year.” Rick suggested.

Daryl bit his lip and turned to look out the window, “Didn't have the money before.”

Rick almost asked why he had money now, but figured it would be a touchy subject.

“You must have been practicing that fastball for quite a while.”

Daryl looked back at Rick and nodded his head, “ ‘Bout a year.”

“I'd like to teach you how to throw a sinker and a slider before we play Woodbury.”

“Do pretty good with the fastball,” Daryl dissented.

“Yeah, but if that's all you throw, then the batters will learn to adapt. They other coaches can start watching for your tell and letting their team know how to time the hit.”

Daryl must not have ever thought of that because he got an introspective look on his face, “A'right.”

Rick gave him another full on smile, making Daryl blush and look away again. Rick was getting the impression that maybe Daryl might have a little man crush on him. He'd dealt with girls before, but not any guys. And Daryl really didn't seem the type, but what did Rick know, more people were accepting nowadays, so more people were coming out. Things had changed a lot since he was in school.

“Stop here.” They were at the trailer park that sat between the highway and the train tracks. Rick pulled over and put the parking brake on. Daryl was pushing the door open as soon as the truck had stopped.

“That was a good game, Daryl.” Rick wanted another minute to talk to the boy, try and work on his confidence, “We can work on your slider next practice. Your fastball's great, take somebody's eyebrows off...but it's nice to have another pitch in your pocket.”

“Sure, Coach,” Daryl was holding onto the door, not looking at Rick, but back at the park, eyes darting around as though he was looking for something.

Rick felt bad for keeping him now, “Ok, see you in class tomorrow.”

Daryl slammed the door and was gone into the trailer park before Rick could get his truck in gear.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So apparently ya'll wanna know the posting schedule? 
> 
> It will be Tuesdays and Fridays, provided nothing weird happens. 
> 
> As always, thank you to TWDObsessive and 1Lostone for doing me a solid and betaing this thing for me. 
> 
> And thank _you_ for the comments and kudos, I appreciate every one of them!
> 
> I've tinkered with this after the beta, so any mistakes are mine.

Rick walked into his classroom the next morning in what could only be described as a pissy mood. He'd been excited to come home and tell Carl about the win, but somehow Lori had turned it into him not paying enough attention to their son.

He tried his best to be home as soon as possible each night, but it was baseball season and he was head coach. Not to mention he was still on the rotation for Saturday detention. And the weekly staff meetings. He didn't know what else he could do other than bring Carl to school with him, but it would be another nine years before Carl would be a high school student.

Shane walked into the room just then all smiles and good mood. His classroom was around the corner from Rick’s and the two often drifted to each other's classrooms once or twice a day.

“Can't wait to see the look on that asshat Philip's face when he sees Daryl pitch next month,” he crowed.

Philip Blake was the coach at the rival school, Woodbury High. It had a bigger, better funded program. Most of the kids that went to the school came from wealth, so they had plenty from fundraisers to support their team. Rick could never figure out if schools like that were better because rich kids went to them, or if the rich kids went to them because they were better. 

“Yeah, he'll be pissed if we mess up his W column,” Rick gave a little smirk. He hated that dick as much as Shane did. He knew for a fact that Blake recruited talented kids from other school districts illegally. He had a lot of rich powerful families help him make it happen too by providing fake addresses.

Rick had tried turning him in a few years ago, but Blake and his influential friends had convinced the school board that Rick was making it up because of sour grapes. Rick had then been investigated by the board, and if his school, team, and parents hadn't backed him one hundred percent, he'd have been out of a job.

“Hey man, what's up?” Shane always seemed to know when Rick wasn't in the best mood.

Rick sighed, running his hand over his face, “Lori doesn't think I spend enough time with Carl.” 

“What are you supposed to do? Attach him to your hip?” Shane asked, “You go straight home every night after practice.”

“She wants me to stop coaching. Says I should be going to Carl's soccer practices, maybe start coaching soccer instead.” Rick explained.

“You  _ cannot  _ be serious.” Shane stood up and started pacing back and forth in front of Rick's desk, “You go to all his games! And what the fuck do you know about soccer?”

“Shane,” Rick said in warning to the curse. The door wasn't closed and the hallway was filling up with sleepy teenagers roaming about before homeroom.

“Sorry, sorry. It's just that it seems you can't have a life outside of your house, man. Doesn't she know how important baseball is to you? Why doesn't she bring Carl to your practices and your games?” Shane always got to the crux of a problem.

Rick didn't have an answer for that and didn't have a chance to give one, as the bell for homeroom rang and students started filing into his room. Shane rapped his knuckles on Rick's desk in their customary 'goodbye' and left for his own classroom.

The day was the usual high school day, trying to get bored kids interested in algebra and geometry. The only redeeming factor had been the cheer heard around the school when the win from last night was mentioned during morning announcements. Third period rolled around and Rick couldn't wait for the lunch break that was smack dab in the middle of the forty minute class.

This was also the period that Daryl was in and Rick was eager to brag on him to the rest of the class. Daryl was an average student in geometry, never volunteered, but answered questions when asked. He always turned in his homework on time, even if he didn't start on it during class. He usually sat in the back corner by the window and Rick often caught him looking out as though he would rather be outside, no matter the weather.

Rick supposed he did. Daryl had the look of a person who preferred to be in nature; tanned all year round, wearing boots that actually looked like they saw trails, and a perpetual squint from shading his eyes from the sun. He wore similar clothes year round, dark baggy jeans, sleeveless flannel shirts in the warmer months and the same flannels in the winter but with the addition of a leather biker jacket, and the aforementioned boots.

It had been a shock to see him in his uniform the first time. Rick was pretty sure it was the only white thing the boy owned. If Rick could get him to cut his hair, he'd probably look like a real preppy jock in the jersey and the tight pants, but it would probably be the end of days before that would happen.

Rick started taking roll call, and when he got to Daryl's name he paused and instead of saying 'Daryl Dixon' he said, “Winning pitcher.”

Daryl's head whipped about to stare up at Rick with a panicked look on his face. Rick almost felt sorry for doing it, but then the class erupted in applause, so he pushed that feeling behind the pride he felt for the boy.

Daryl cast his eyes down to his desk and raised his hand in acknowledgment. He would have to get used to it, because even though the quarterback was usually the most loved jock on campus, a winning pitcher would come in a close second.

Rick finished roll call and jumped right into the lesson for the day, triangles. Equilateral, Isosceles and Scalene. The lesson gave Rick a chance to use baseball in his class. Of course his whole classroom had a baseball theme, so it was kind of a given.

As soon as he was done with his lecture it was lunch time and Rick dismissed class for lunch. He'd thought it odd at first to break up a class like that, but it worked out perfectly between his lecture and the classwork time. All the kids bolted for the door, forty minutes wasn't much time to get to the lunchroom, stand in line, eat, socialize, and hopefully use the restroom.

Rick was just checking his computer for emails when he noticed Daryl was still sitting in the back of the room.

“Daryl, it's lunch time. Go on.”

“Ain't hungry,” Daryl asserted as he chewed on his thumb.

Rick sighed and leaned back in his chair, “Right, that's why you're trying to eat your thumb.” 

Looking out the window again, Daryl said,  “I'll be quiet if I can stay here.”

“Daryl, it's important that you get lunch.” Rick tried again.

“Don't have any money for lunch,” Daryl confessed quietly.

Damn, Rick hated being confronted with his students' poverty. The issue always popped up when he least expected it. Daryl wasn't the first kid to confide in him that he didn't have money for lunch, but it was hard to take from his new star player.

“Shouldn’t you qualify for the lunch program?” Rick asked him, getting up and moving to the front of his desk.

“Don't want no charity, told ya that last night.”

“That was just ice cream, this is lunch, an important meal.” Rick countered.

“Look, it's just for today okay? I'll make some money this weekend and then I'll buy lunch all next week.”

Rick decided that would have to do for now, it had already been ten minutes since he'd excused the rest of the class.

“Well maybe you could do me a favor then,” Rick open his bottom drawer and pulled out his lunch cooler, “My wife made tuna casserole last night and I hate tuna. And guess what she packed for my lunch?”

Rick was walking back to Daryl now and could see the boy fidgeting, his pride and his hunger clearly at war in his head.

“I'm just going to du...” no he didn't want Daryl to think he was getting his garbage, “force myself to eat it, but now I can go to the cafeteria.” The food in the cafeteria probably wasn't much better, and he really wouldn't have time to eat it, but he'd be damned if he let this boy miss a meal.

There was still no response from Daryl, so Rick set the cooler on the floor next to Daryl's desk and turned and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him. He was hoping Daryl would go ahead and eat the lunch if he could do it in private. Resolving to start a snack drawer like Mrs. Blanco downstairs, he headed down the hall. 

Rick thought about going to the lunchroom to eat, but he knew he really didn't have time, so he went to the teachers' lounge to make his lunch from the vending machines. Coke and a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos wasn't much of a meal, but it was better than the nothing Daryl would have had.

He met Shane in the hall coming back from his own lunch once Rick had left the lounge.

“No practice tonight, Coach?” Shane asked him.

“Nah, they won last night, thought I'd give 'em a break. Besides, it's Friday night. They'll wanna celebrate the win. If we're still doing well at the end of the season and have a shot at the playoffs, then we can start doing Friday practices.”

“Okay, Coach,” Shane said and whistled as he walked past Rick to his own room.

Rick had paused outside his door, hand on the knob. None of the students were back from lunch yet, usually taking every minute of their break. Rick supposed if this were a calculus class all the students would be back early, but it was just a compulsory math class and not many of them wanted to actually be here.

He thought about Daryl again and wondered how he could afford baseball, there was a fee of several hundred dollars to play and the kids had to buy their own equipment. Was it from this money he made on the weekends? Was he giving up lunch in order to play? Rick hadn't noticed him staying behind for lunch before now.

Rick couldn’t imagine how he even ended up on the team-- well he knew how he ended up on the team. Daryl had tried out just like everyone else, amazing everyone with his pitching ability. He'd been a pretty good hitter too, better than Rick had been. But Daryl was a senior and as far as Rick knew Daryl'd been going to King County High School since freshman year.

It was Shane who'd first been excited about him, and now that Rick thought about it, Shane had been talking about Daryl being on the team since last spring. Rick would ask him about it when he came to his room at the end of the day.

Students were starting to wander down the hall by now, so Rick hurriedly opened the door to check on Daryl. He was still at his desk, but now he had his math book out and was working on the problems Rick had posted on the board for the class to do after lunch. The cooler was sitting on Rick’s desk and it wasn't until he lifted it up and heard the empty container fall over that he knew Daryl had eaten the casserole. He must have scarfed it down to have eaten it all, put the container back in the cooler, the cooler back to his desk, and started work on his assignment.

Rick smiled a tight little smile that he didn't want Daryl to see. It was nice having this small victory. Rick stepped behind his desk and put his cooler back into his bottom drawer as his students came back from lunch.

\---

Daryl was as good as his word the next week, going to and paying for lunch. Rick had gone ahead and gone to the cafeteria to make sure, sitting with Shane at the teacher's table where he could keep an eye on his pitcher.

Glenn sat with Daryl most days, dragging over his girlfriend Maggie. Daryl was obviously uncomfortable the first day, but rolled with it the rest of the week (Shane told Rick that he used to catch Daryl out smoking at lunch before he’d joined the team). It was actually funny to watch the interaction between the three, Glenn would be adamantly talking with his hands, Maggie laughing at his antics, and poor Daryl trying to duck Glenn's flying limbs.

They did weight training every day during seventh period, and ran drills on Monday. Then had practice on Tuesday and  Wednesday - Rick mostly focusing on hitting and catching. Daryl may have a great arm, but the whole team could use work on their hitting. They still had to have base runners and hitters to win a game, not just have a pitcher keeping the other team from scoring. 

Thursday's game against Alexandria was quick, Daryl and the other pitcher, Jimmy, having run through the other team's hitters in record time. Their pitcher, Aiden, was all swagger, but didn't live up to his own hype. Glenn got a home run off him in the fifth (Alexandria’s coach should have pulled the pitcher then, but it wasn’t Rick’s call) and it was all downhill for Alexandria after that.

“Good game.”

Rick met up with the Alexandria coach, Reg Monroe, at the end of the handshake line. “Thanks, you too.”

“Where did you get your closing pitcher? I don't think I've seen him around before,” Reg asked Rick, looking over to where Daryl was packing up his gear.

“He just started pitching this year. I guess he just couldn't afford to play before now. I think he has a job so that he can pay for it,” Rick explained to the taller man.

“Seems a bit rough around the edges.” That was from Reg's wife Deanna. She helped the team and was an unofficial coach.

“He does all right. Never causes me a bit of trouble, keeps his head down,” Rick defended Daryl.

“If the boy can pitch and stay out of trouble, sounds like a good fit to me,” Reg told his wife.

She “hmmd” and walked back towards their dug out.

“She'd never let him get away with that hair on our team,” Reg turned back to Rick to say.

“It doesn't affect his pitching. 'Sides, he has a hard enough time with things, don't want to cause an issue for him just because his hair’s a little long.” Rick figured Daryl couldn't afford regular haircuts and didn't need to be badgered about it if he couldn't.

“Well, by the looks of it, he'll get you to the playoffs with that arm. That's if he can handle the pressure,” Reg predicted.

“We're only two games in, don't plan on putting any pressure on the boy. He's having fun,” Rick wasn’t going to admit he'd already thought the same thing.

Alexandria's coach was already walking back to his team. “See ya around. Good luck against Grady next week,” he threw over his shoulder as he fell in step with his wife.

“Good luck against Woodbury!” Rick called after him, laughing when he heard the other coach's groan of dismay.

“Ice cream for everybody!” Shane called out.

Rick laughed at the ritual of a winning game, but sobered a bit when he remembered how Daryl had acted after last week's win. He looked around and found Daryl walking with Glenn and his parents to their car. Good, they would make sure Daryl made it to the DQ and got an ice cream from Shane. Maybe Glenn could talk him into something more substantial than a medium cone dipped in chocolate.

Turned out that Glenn convinced Daryl to get a small Oreo Blizzard, a man after his own heart. Rick was pleased to see Daryl relax and joke around with Glenn and Jimmy, more animated than Rick had ever seen him. Daryl even shot Rick a happy smile on at least two occasions that Rick was happy to return. It was a very good day.

On Friday during third period roll call, Rick again called 'Winning Pitcher' instead of 'Daryl Dixon'. Daryl didn't seem any more enthusiastic about being called that, but handled it better, holding his hand up and acknowledging the applause. Class went on as normal and Daryl went to the cafeteria to have lunch, just like the rest of the week.

Rick had high hopes of Daryl learning the confidence he so desperately needed now that he had two wins under his belt. The 180 at the ice cream shop pointed in that direction at least. He was glad to see the boy eat lunch everyday too. It wouldn't hurt for him to put on a few pounds, he was mostly skin and bones, not that Rick could really tell in street clothes, but in the uniform it was pretty obvious.

Daryl looked Rick in the eye as he left at the end of class, giving Rick a small nod and a barely there tilt of his lips. Rick smiled back, happy to see the good mood. Confidence was definitely coming up.

Rick sat back at his desk during the last class of the day and pulled up his email. There were a few from the district office about the testing that would be starting next month. 

Standardized testing had started out as a good thing to gauge how students were doing and if what was being taught was effective. Now it was all tied up with money and school rankings. The board and the district were always pushing for better grades on the tests. Most of the teachers taught to what would be on the test rather than what the curriculum should be. It was a necessary evil, and as much as everyone hated it, it probably wouldn't change any time soon. 

There was an email from the principal congratulating him on the win, and several more from other members of the staff. Shane had sent him an email with an attachment that Rick knew better than to open in front of the class.

The clingy mom had emailed him about some nonsense regarding snacks at practices. Apparently, she was planning on being there for each one with a cooler full of healthy snacks and drinks for the boys. He guessed the woman had a crush on him, but Rick would never instigate anything with her. He hoped if he stayed professional she would get bored and move on to someone else. Maybe he could push Shane her way. That was the one good thing about Shane's promiscuous lifestyle, he didn't have a type and would go after any willing female he came across. Rick had asked him once what he was looking for and Shane had said he'd 'know it when he saw it'.

The afternoon announcements came on and that was a waste of time any other day of the week, but more so on a Friday. The volume in his class went up as the students tried to talk over the speaker that hung in the corner by the door. Rick held up his hand, his subtle way of getting attention, and the class went silent.

“...car wash on Saturday for the baseball team at the city building, come out and support your team! Have a good weekend!”

Less than a minute later the bell rang and Rick winced as his door flew open and hit the wall, hard. That might have left a mark. There were papers slowly drifting to the floor as the last student ran from his room, leaving papers, books, and pencils in their haste to be gone.

Rick was planning on leaving himself as soon as the hallways cleared out a bit. He usually stayed in his room until practice time, or meeting time, depending on which was happening that particular afternoon. But he actually had nothing today, so he thought he would make Lori happy and hurry on home.

There was just enough time to go ahead and open the attachment on the email Shane had sent him. It was a gif of a photoshopped picture of Phillip's head on a baby that was having a temper tantrum, fake crying looped along with the image. Underneath was the caption “Asshat when he loses next month.”

Rick couldn't help but laugh at the image. Yeah, he couldn't wait for next month either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I'm not really going to give a lot of details about each game, just the highlights since I would probably mess something up and then have Lost give me a look (It's an electronic look, but you know what I mean.)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A glimpse into the life of Rick Grimes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again to my lovely betas! TWDObsessive and 1lostone are super cool and for some reason put up with me! <3

Rick woke Monday morning like everyone else in the whole world woke on a Monday morning, reluctantly. But unlike everyone else in the world, or most of them anyway, he woke on the couch in the family room. At least it was comfortable and long enough for him.

Rick went to the half bath in the hall to relieve his bladder and wash his hands and face before going to start the coffee. He couldn't survive Mondays without coffee, or any other day of the week for that matter. He leaned against the counter with his head down, thinking about the weekend.

Lori hadn't seemed to care that he'd actually been able to be home by 4 o'clock on Friday. Instead she'd complained about the car wash on Saturday. She didn't think that Rick needed to be there and Rick did. He'd seen what happens when the kids didn't have enough adult supervision during these things. It usually turned into a water fight and no one took responsibility for the money. They half assed the “washing” of the cars and worried more about who looked better barely dressed. And if the girlfriends or boyfriends showed up it could dissolve into teenage drama before you could say 'After School Special'.

Carl had a soccer game that Rick had every intention of going to because it started at the god awful time of 8:15 on a Saturday morning and the car wash didn't start until noon. But when Rick had woken up it was 9 and Lori and Carl were already gone. And by the time Rick could have gotten there, the game would have been over. As it was, he'd have to rush to get ready before going to the city building to set up for the car wash.

When he got home Carl was happy to see him and told him all about the game and how he almost had scored. And then they went out for lunch and gone to the library for a new book. Rick chuckled at his son's energy, he hoped he never lost it.

He barbecued for dinner, using their old beat up Weber kettle grill to cook chicken and hot dogs. He hated hot dogs, but Carl loved them, so they had hot dogs. Dinner was more of the Carl show with him talking about the world cup finals and how he was going to be a famous soccer player when he grew up. Rick could only think of one famous soccer player, and that was only because pictures of the tattooed blond in his underwear were everywhere.

Lori hadn't actually said five words to him all that day, he wasn't sure if he was relieved or not.

Sunday's church service was about commitment to family and faith, giving Lori a platform for the ride home. He tried to agree with her, but that just made her angry. So he stopped talking, and that made her angry. He figured she just wanted to be angry, so he let her.

When he got home he went upstairs and changed into his running clothes. He didn't run as much as he would like, but he tried to get a few miles in every two or three days. He didn't want to be an overweight coach, telling his team to do as he said and not as he did. He hated the hypocrisy of it.

When he got back Lori was banging in the kitchen she'd designed when the house was being built. It had a large black marble topped island with a prep sink, two dishwashers, a gourmet gas stove, and a fridge you could store a whole damn cow in. The kitchen had raised the price of the house by 30 grand, but at the time Rick had thought she was worth it. Plus her parents had gifted them a big chunk of money to go towards building the house, so it was hard for him to bitch.

She glared at him as he reached into that big ass refrigerator to get a bottle of water. He drank half the bottle in one go before turning to look at her.

“You could have told us you were leaving,” she said through clenched teeth.

“I told you on the way to church this morning that I was going on a run as soon as we got home,” Rick reminded her.

“Even after the sermon today?”

“What does that have to do with me going on a run that I told you about?” Rick was getting exasperated. He really didn't want to deal with this right after his run, it had helped him clear his mind and let his anger from the car ride go. But Lori was hell bent on bringing it all back up.

“Commitment, Rick!” She shouted at him.

Rick pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes, and bowing his head. He took two steady breaths before replying as calmly as he could, “Explain to me what me going on a run, that I told you about, has anything to do with whatever it is that you are angry about.”

But of course that was the wrong thing to say, “You don't take me seriously when I try to talk to you. I wanted to talk to you about the sermon in the car, but you just blew me off. We could have talked about it when we got home, but you went for your damn run. I've been trying to talk to you about this for a long time, Rick. You are not committed to this family.”

“Lori, I come home to you every night, I hang out with Carl as soon as I get home so you have time to yourself for a little while, I even turned down that offer to coach a travel baseball team. What more do you want?”

“I don't know Rick, all I know is it's just me and Carl most days while you're out reliving your high school glory days. Maybe it's time you grew up.”

“So you want me to give up coaching? I don't think I can do that Lori.”

“If you loved Ca...”

“For the love of god Lori, don't you dare question my love for my son!” Lori flinched at his outburst, she knew that was the only subject that would really rile him up and liked to pull it out when the arguments weren't going her way.

“Fine. Look all I'm asking is for you to take him to some of his practices and go to his games.” And there, that was the real issue. She wanted him to go to the practices so she wouldn't have to.

He could tell her it wasn't his idea to sign him up for soccer at three years old, he could tell her that if she had signed him up for pee-wee baseball she'd have been a lot closer to her wish of him coaching and going to all the practices and games, but he wouldn't.

“Fine, let me take a shower and we can go over his practice schedule and I can let you know what days I can take him. And as soon as baseball season is over, I can pick up more and go to all the games, all right?”

“Fine.” Lori said as she pushed her long dark hair behind her shoulder and went back to whatever it was she was banging about earlier.

After his shower they sat at the kitchen table and worked out a schedule of Rick picking Carl up from school and going to soccer practice. He really only had Fridays available (for now), but he would see what he could work out for Tuesdays. Mondays were out because that was staff meeting day and drills for the team, Wednesday was out because that was the last practice before the Thursday games, which also  knocked that day out. Tuesdays were mostly calisthenics with a little fundamentals thrown in at the end, Shane could handle that until Rick could get there.

He couldn't fathom why 5 year olds running up and down a field required practice nearly everyday. He was starting to suspect it was just an excuse to wear the little shits out and give mom and dad a break for an hour a day.

And lord forgive him, but he'd tried to make love to his wife that night and that's how he ended up on the couch. He had hoped that since he had worked out the practice schedule with her that she would forgive him. But he was terribly mistaken. After she turned him down cold and turned her back on him the whole room felt frigid. He eventually gave up and went downstairs to the couch. Maybe after he got a few soccer practices with Carl under his belt she might be a little more receptive.

Rick popped out of his musings as he heard Lori waking Carl up for school. The high school started 45 minutes before the elementary school, so that meant Rick was probably running late. He poured the now brewed coffee into his King County high school travel mug and rushed upstairs to get ready. He passed Lori in the hall and gave her a smile, which she returned before going downstairs to make breakfast for their son.

He made it to school with enough time to unlock his door before the first bell rang. It was too late for Shane to pop in, so Rick would probably get an email from to find out why he was late. Rick wasn't sure if he wanted to have that conversation over email.

He couldn't wait for third period, one - so that he could talk to Shane, and two - he wanted to see how his new favorite pitcher was doing. He hadn't come to the car wash, Rick had expected that because the boy had told him he had to work, and he wanted to ask about this mysterious job. He hoped it wouldn't interfere with Daryl pitching.

When Daryl came into the room that day he was wearing the tattered faded black hoodie he usually wore in the fall and early spring, the hood pulled low over his face. Rick hadn't seen it for at least a month and with the temperature predicted to be 80 today it was a bit warm for it. Rick tried to get a glimpse of Daryl's face, but his head was bowed and his bangs were covering his eyes.

He would have to let the odd look slide for now, the rest of the class had filed in and there was no way that Rick would embarrass Daryl today, not about this. He had a sick feeling in his stomach about what wearing the hoodie meant.

Rick asked one of the girls, Karen, to collect everyone's homework from Friday while he took roll call. When he was done he looked up to see where Karen was in the room to see if she was almost done. She had just made it to Daryl's desk when he found her. Daryl shook his head slightly when she got to his desk, not looking up from the marred desktop.

Rick frowned, it wasn't like Daryl to not turn his homework in and if it became a habit, then it could jeopardize his eligibility for the team. The little sick feeling grew in his stomach to full on nausea. He suspected the hoodie and lack of homework were connected. He'd have to see if he could find out today during lunch, if not it would have to wait until Tuesday's - no Wednesday's -practice.

When it was time for Rick to release the class for lunch, he kept his eyes on Daryl so he could stop him. But Daryl uncharacteristically scurried out with the first wave of students, and Rick lost his chance to catch him. He would just have to  try again at the end of class.

Shane came into his room just as he was pulling out his cooler, they usually ate lunch together on Mondays to catch up and to gripe about the staff meeting coming up at the end of the day. Looking into his cooler Lori had packed for him he saw a ham sandwich, a bottle of water, and a baggie of baby carrots. Damn, this was her trying to get him to eat better.

Shane looked into the cooler and laughed, “Damn, what you do now, bro?”

“I don't know. She's been pissy with me every since baseball started. Still on the kick about not spending enough time with Carl. I wish she would just go ahead and tell me she wants a break from him every now and then, I understand that, I do. But trying to make it out like I'm dropping the ball is just driving me crazy.”

Shane put a hand on Rick's shoulder and gave him a little squeeze, not knowing what to say. It was hard for Shane to give advice for Rick's marriage. He'd never been married and he always had felt like Lori was a friend too. So, the best he could do was give silent support.

“Want me to talk to her? I think she and I are still friends, maybe she'll open up to me,” Shane offered.

“God no. She'd be pissed I even talked to you and accuse me of asking you to intervene.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah,” Rick said as he stuffed a sad little carrot into his mouth.

“So what do you think 'ol principal Jacqui will talk about in the staff meeting today?” Shane asked, taking a bite out of his much better looking roast beef on rye sandwich.

“What else, damn standardized testing. She wants us to do better than last year, better'n Woodbury.” Rick shook his head. Woodbury had been the topped ranked school since Rick and Shane had been students at King County High. He didn't know how she thought they could all the sudden do better.

“Gotta have goals, man. Even if they're crazy impossible. Shoot for the stars and land on the moon sort of shit.” Shane lectured.

“Whatever. Save that  _ shit _ for the team,” Rick laughed.

After that they talked about Rick's schedule for taking Carl to practice (Shane was fine with running practice on Tuesdays), what they would do for Wednesday's practice, the pros and cons of adding another day of practice on Saturday afternoons (after Carl's games), and the game on Thursday.

“I'm going to have Glenn record Daryl when he pitches one of those fastballs. Then I'm gonna get a screen capture and make it my background on my computer so I can look at it everyday!” Shane said excitedly, rubbing his hands together.

Rick laughed along with him, but sobered up when he remembered about Daryl today.

“We may have a problem with Daryl.” Rick told Shane.

“Do  _ not  _ tell me we have a problem with our star pitcher.” Shane shook his head emphatically.

“He didn't do his homework over the weekend and he's been a little odd today, real quiet. I'm worried.”

“What kind of jerk gives homework over the weekend? And the kid is always quiet. I had him in class for two years before I knew he was capable of stringing a whole sentence together on his own.”

“You know I give homework over the weekend, it's never very much, just a rehash of the work from the week. And he's wearing his hoodie and it's going to be 80 today. Who wears a hoodie in 80 degree weather in Georgia? The humidity alone's gonna make him sweat buckets.” Rick explained.

“Maybe he was still excited from winning his first game and forgot about. And maybe he's trying to trim down a bit and is trying to sweat it off.” Shane theorized.

“Nah, I don't think so. Somethings up and if I can't find out today, I will during Wednesday's practice.”

Rick could see a few of his students loitering in the hall outside his door - they knew better to come in while Shane was there. He started packing up the remains of his lunch, half his sandwich and most of the bag of carrots.

“Alright, see you at the meeting,” Shane said,knocking on Rick’s desk and then balling up his plastic wrap to throw in the garbage on the way out.

“Hey Mr. Walsh,” said Karen as Shane walked by. The whole teaching staff knew she had a deep crush on the ex-jock. Shane had had to endure teasing about it all year. Jacqui had taken pity on him and made sure the girl wasn't in his class this semester. Shane had already had a close call with a student the year before. 

The last thing this school needed was a scandal like that. Teachers sleeping with students was about as bad a thing that could happen. And male teachers were always under the microscope when it came to their relationships with students. Rick was glad the staff knew there was nothing going on with Shane and the dark haired girl. It could turn into a witch hunt real fast.

Rick looked around his room to make sure all the students were back from lunch and noticed an empty desk in the back corner by the windows.

“Anybody seen Daryl?” he asked the class.

Most of the kids shook their head 'no', but one of the boys up front said he'd seen him go outside after lunch. Now the nausea was back and this time it was accompanied by a tightening in his belly. Daryl skipping classes was just as bad if not worse than missing assignments, and both would get him booted from the team. Rick would do  _ anything _ to keep his star pitcher on the team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got up early to post this, so hopefully everything looks alright.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ACk! I am terribly sorry this is so late today! But as I read over it early in the week I just knew it needed major work. (I did write it two years ago!)
> 
> Thank you so freakin' much to 1lostone for going over it a million times this week even though she was super busy. That's a good friend and beta right there folks. And no, I don't share. ;P
> 
> And again, this is for my dear friend TWDObsessive.
> 
> Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Rick quietly slid into his seat next to Shane, the staff meeting having started five minutes ago and he didn’t want to call attention to himself. 

“Glad you could make it,” Shane whispered out of the side of his mouth.

“Had to call Lori,” Rick replied.

Shane was prevented from following up when Jacqui paused and gave them both a meaningful look. Rick ducked his head to hide his smile. Some things never changed. Jacqui had been giving the two of them that look since their freshman year. 

Once she was sure everyone’s eyes were on her, she continued on, “Like I was saying, we’ve only got three weeks until testing and I want every extra minute focused on practicing for the tests. Mrs. Blanco has volunteered to run an after school study group and I encourage you to strongly suggest to any student you may think needs it to sign up.”  

Rick caught Shane’s eye and was just barely able to resist rolling his eyes. Mrs. Blanco volunteered _every_ year, she kept track of how her kids did on their testing and tried to best it from year to year.  

“Now, I know we’ve all heard the rumors of faculty helping the students during the tests, or even,” here she stopped to hold up her hand and shake her head, “take the damn tests for the kids, but rest assured, that is not happening here. King County High School will not be caught up in a cheat scandal. Not on my watch.”

Rick sighed, it would be easier to take the tests for the kids - not ethical by any means - but life would be easier. The state tests were a waste of time as far as he was concerned. They certainly started out as a good idea, but now...now they were having meetings on how to better their scores so they could maintain face, get the almighty federal funding,  and not have to explain to parents why the school their kids go to isn’t just as good as the one five miles down the road. 

They were, unsurprisingly, late getting out of the meeting and Rick wanted to hurry home before Lori got too pissed, but he wanted to talk to Shane about Daryl.

Rick caught Shane as he was about to get into his new Camaro (Rick had helped him pick it out and insisted it be a stick shift like his truck because how could you call your car a performance car if it wasn't even a manual transmission?), “Hey, got a sec?” he asked.

“Yeah man, what's up?”

“Daryl didn't come back from lunch today. Did he make it to your class?” Daryl had biology with Shane fifth period.

“Shit, I forgot to tell you. One of the office aids came down and gave me a note saying Daryl'd gotten sick and had to go home,” Shane said, leaning on the open car door.

“I guess that would explain his behavior today,” Rick said.

“Yeah, man. Makes perfect sense,” Shane agreed.

“Okay, see you tomorrow,” Rick slapped a hand down on Shane's shoulder and ambled over to his truck.

He called Lori to tell her he was on the way home, she didn't sound pissed, which gave Rick some hope. He thought he'd sweeten the pot and offer to bring home dinner so she didn't have to cook, but she said she already had a roast in the oven.

Now he really wished he could bring home dinner, she always overcooked her roasts. Rick had learned long ago not to criticize her cooking, though. She had dissolved into tears the first time he asked her if she meant for the roasted chicken to be so dark. It had taken him eating on the damn thing for three days to convince her he didn't mind.

Carl came running up to him as soon as he walked in the door, all excited about soccer practice. Rick herded him to the family room so they could sit down on the couch and talk about it. He felt a small ping of sadness as he remembered that's where he had slept the previous night.

“I kicked the ball so hard it went all the way to the mom’s cooler! And then Enid got in trouble for pushing the new kid down and she wouldn’t say she was sorry and then she had to sit on the sidelines for the rest of practice!” 

Rick smiled fondly, he loved listening to Carl talk about his day. And Enid was a firecracker, a new kid who had just lost her parents in a terrible accident and was now living with a foster family. Carl could do worse for a friend.

Dinner was the same as it always was, Carl babbling about nothing and everything, Lori avoiding Rick's eyes, and Rick just trying to digest meat that tasted like burnt leather. At least Carl didn't know any better, he'd only had his mother's cooking and occasionally Rick's when he grilled.

Rick stayed up a little later than he usually did, his mind switching between his two problems at the moment, Lori and Daryl. He hoped he and Lori were just going through a rough patch and come out as a stronger couple on the other side, but Daryl was another story.

Teenage angst was an everyday occurrence in a high school. Some of it was just because it was the first time they'd had their heart broken, or the first time they'd failed a test, or feeling like an outcast. But, some of it was all too real and would be difficult for some adults to handle. And Rick suspected whatever was going on with Daryl fell into the latter category. He knew Daryl's family didn't have much money judging by the lack of variety in his wardrobe and his infrequent haircuts, but Rick was starting to suspect there was some abuse going on too.

Daryl was the strong silent type and would probably never admit to any. If Rick could prove it though, he would try and get Daryl some help. If the boy accepted it, which he probably wouldn't. It was always a tricky road to walk, he could start noting marks and build a case to hand over to CPS, but the school year was nearly over and Daryl was eighteen so they wouldn’t do anything at this point anyway. Rick could kick himself for not picking up on it sooner, but Daryl seemed well versed in hiding it and would never admit to it if asked.

Rick rubbed his hands over his face and then over the back of his head, he needed sleep. He went up to his room and sighed in relief when he saw that Lori was asleep. He didn't think he could deal with her coldness tonight. He fell asleep after tossing and turning for a half hour, his thoughts still on a troubled kid who would never ask for help.

–

Daryl came to class on Tuesday and must have gotten the assignment he missed from the previous day because he turned it in. He didn't bother with Monday's work, Rick had a strict policy with his seniors about late work. He figured that after eleven years of schooling under their belt they would be responsible enough to turn their homework in on time. He gave the freshmen leeway, and a little less to the sophomores and the juniors, but the seniors knew the consequences of late work - a 0.

Daryl made sure to keep his head down during class and even when Rick called on him, he didn't participate. He did come back from lunch, which was good. Rick tried to stop him on his way out, but Karen had nabbed his attention first, having a question about the assignment.

Shane didn't come by at lunchtime and Rick didn't have time for him after school because he needed to run home to pick up Carl and take him to soccer practice. He hoped Shane would have a chance to talk to Daryl at practice today, hell, he hoped Daryl made it to practice.

Rick hopped out of the truck and ran in the house, “Carl! Time to go!”

Lori’s head popped out of the kitchen, “Really, Rick? You have to come in shouting like a heathen? Carl’s right here.”

Smiling sheepishly at Lori’s reprimand, Rick stepped closer to her to give her a peck on the cheek, “Sorry, Just don’t want to be late.”

She smiled at him, “I don’t want you to be late either.” She looked over her shoulder to where Carl was sitting at the kitchen island coloring in a book. “Come on Carl, your dad’s ready to take you to soccer practice.”

“Really?  _ Awesome! _ ” Carl wiggled out of his chair, ran over to Rick and grabbed his hand, “C’mon dad! I want cha to meet Coach Abe!”

Coach Abe apparently had been a football player in high school and had come to King County for a job after a long military career. 

“But his kids and their mommy died and he wanted to stay here,” Carl explained as they pulled into the park where practice was held.

“That’s sad,” Rick said distractedly. There were little kids running all over the place and they were hard to see around his truck. He wanted to back in so that he could put the tailgate down and sit there to watch practice.

Coach Abe was a large man with a severe haircut and a Fu Manchu. His skin was lightly tanned which was at odds with his copper bright hair.

“Coach Grimes!” the man hollered once he caught sight of Rick and Carl.

Rick smiled and waved, it wasn’t unusual for random folks in the county to recognize him. “How do you do?” he asked when he got close enough.

“Doing mighty fine. Not as fine as you though! Two wins so far this season!”

“It’s early yet,” Rick objected.

Coach Abe waved a hand, “It’s a good start and you know it. Alexandria’s a tough nut to crack.”

Rick ducked his head in acknowledgement. “Still got Woodbury.”

“That team could be something if their coach wasn’t a snake in the grass,” Coach Abe said with a growl.

“Still gonna be tough to beat. 

“I got faith in ya,” Coach Abe said. He leaned in closer and motioned between the two of them with his hand, “Coach to Coach.”  He winked at Rick and then turned to look out on the soccer field at the pint sized soccer players, several of which seemed to be mindlessly running about.

Carl was talking to a girl with long dark hair and a fierce look in her eye, Rick would bet that was Enid. Carl was doing most of the talking, Enid darting looks around them, but her eyes always going back to Carl. Rick would ask Lori about inviting her over for a playdate.

“Sasha! Let’s get this show on the road!” Coach Abe yelled at a woman across the field. Rick chuckled at the way she tilted her head, dark eyes full of reproach - definitely in a relationship - before she starting rounding up kids to do warm-ups. 

Rick grabbed a water from the front of his truck and then settled on the tailgate. At least it wasn’t too hot today.

The practice went as Rick thought it would; a bunch of kids running back and forth, burning up energy. They did spend some time on footwork and kicking the ball into the goal from different angles and speeds, but it still looked like a lot of extraneous exercise. Of course, there were probably folk that felt the same thing about baseball.

Once practice was over (and how was it that it felt interminably longer than baseball practice when it was only an hour?) he loaded Carl up into the truck. He checked his watch and saw that Shane would just about be done with the calisthenics about now and he might be able to get there in time for the fundamentals portion. He called Lori on his outdated flip phone (it still works fine, thank you very much) to let her know the plan. She agreed enthusiastically, she must be really enjoying her Carl free time.

They were indeed just starting to break out into their positions to practice when Rick pulled up. He left Carl with clingy mom while he jogged out to the mound to check on his pitchers. There were actually three, Daryl, Jimmy, and the freshman Noah. Rick was happy to see that Daryl had made it to practice. He wasn't wearing short sleeves and shorts like the other boys, but a long sleeve T and loose fitting jeans. Now that Rick thought about it, it was his usual practice outfit. He assumed that he would switch to cooler clothes like the rest of the boys once the temperature and the humidity rose, but no. He was also wearing a ball cap pulled low over his forehead, pushing his bangs into his eyes.

“Get your hair outta your eyes, Dixon,” Rick told him as he reached the mound.

The boys were taking turns throwing easy pitches to the catcher, Bob, that he would lob back in just as easy manner. It was a good warm up, but today he wanted to see if Daryl could do something besides that wicked fastball and the kid needed to be able to see what he was doing in order to do that.

Daryl pushed his hair to the side, still partially covering his right eye, and pulled his cap even lower on his head. Rick walked up to him to get a bit in his personal space so that Daryl would know he meant business, but stopped when he saw the dark patch under Daryl's slightly swollen eye. Daryl looked away when he saw that Rick had noticed, that same far away look in his eye that he'd had after the game last Thursday. That certainly explained the odd behavior on Monday.

“We'll talk about this later,” he murmured low so the other two boys wouldn't hear. Daryl gave a short little nod, still not looking at Rick.

“Alright guys, let's see your slider,” Rick instructed the boys, looking over his shoulder to see Carl happily playing in the dirt. Lori would make Rick give Carl a bath for letting him get dirty, but Rick didn’t mind. Kids were supposed to get dirty. 

After practice Rick again got side tracked by clingy mom. At this point it was obvious she was just making up things to talk to him about. Today it was about uniform washing. Rick had always just left it to the boys, but she was going on about the uniforms being washed properly so they all looked the same. Rick told her if she wanted to take on the responsibility of washing 25 stinky high school baseball uniforms, she was more than welcome to it.

By the time he got done, Daryl was nowhere to be found. Not that surprising. Rick would just try again after tomorrow's practice.

On the ride home Carl was talking in his usual enthusiastic way, “Jessie said you and Uncle Shane went to the state playoffs when you played.”

Rick smiled and reached over and ruffled Carl's hair, “Yeah we did, lost by two hits.”

“Yeah, Jessie said that if they'd left you on the mound instead of pulling you in the seventh inning, you would have won.”

“One, who's Jessie and two, baseball's a team sport. So it wasn't me that was going to win that game all by myself.” Rick said shifting gears as he slowed down for a red light.

“She's the snack mom! She says you two talk all the time!” Carl huffed out.

Right. Jessie. Damn, he'd gone to school with her. She'd been in some of his classes, and gotten pregnant while a sophomore, but that's all he remembered about her. That and she dated that loser Pete. He had always been all bluff and bluster, trying to cause trouble, but never following up with his taunts and threats. Rick was ashamed to say he'd gotten into a fight with him senior year. Luckily, he had enough witnesses to say Pete had started it and Rick had tried to walk away. Pete had left him alone after that, but Jessie had seemed to disappear, he guessed he just hadn't kept track of her because of the championship ride they had been on that year.

“I wouldn't exactly call it talking, Carl.” Rick shook his head. That's all he needed, Carl telling Lori about another woman who seemed to be infatuated with him.

He called Lori to let her know they were on the way home and offer, again, to pick up dinner. This time she agreed, confessing she'd gotten caught up reading a book and lost track of time and didn't get anything started.

Rick chuckled along with her, before Carl was born she had loved to read. But now most of her time was wrapped up in keeping Carl happy and busy.

It was a good dinner of Chinese food and happy conversations. Rick about fell on the floor after Carl had let the cat out of the bag about Jessie. But Lori had laughed and said,”She's still mooning over you after all this time?”

“You knew?” Rick asked aghast.

“The whole school knew. She used to write 'Jessie Grimes' all over her notebooks before she started dating Pete.” Lori said laughing at him.

“I didn't know!” Rick cried.

“You and I were dating and you were all about baseball then - still are - but your head was somewhere else.”

Rick shook his head, “I guess so,” and he smiled at his wife. And she smiled back.

It was a good night and Rick finally got to make love to his wife. It was nice, not like the passion they had once had, but loving nonetheless.

He let thoughts of Daryl Dixon go for the night and slept well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all your comments and kudos! I'm so glad you guys are digging this (although I had a moment of panic that I might let you down!).
> 
> I was super nervous about writing Abe, so I saved his dialogue until last and kept it to a minimum. 
> 
> Also, I had to fudge a bit with Jessie and got her pregnant with Ron a lot younger than she probably did on the show. I just couldn't find another female character in canon to fit with what I needed. So just think of it as creative license. :D


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know you all don't want to hear my excuse for this being late...again, so I will spare you. 
> 
> Thanks again to my lovely betas, TWDObsessive and 1Lostone, they are better than watermelon on the 4th of July. 
> 
> Also, if you are like me, you are a multi-fandom shipper. And if you like Drarry, might I recommend _Vita Mutatur, Non Tollitur._ by my good friend Justley. Here is the link (AO3 never lets me actually link, so you'll have to copy and paste) http://archiveofourown.org/works/10972461/chapters/24430002

Rick could not wait until the kids got tired of saying 'Hump Day!' every fucking Wednesday. All the terrible imitations, of a damn camel of all things, drove him crazy. What was worse was Shane doing it back to the kids. That man would always behave a bit like a kid.

This was probably his last month to be able to focus on his curriculum before switching over to focusing on test preparation. He didn't need to worry about the seniors, they wouldn't have to take them. That week or so was spent doing the traditional senior stuff, skip day, pranking the principal, the picnic, and so forth.

It was hard to believe the school year was more than half over and spring break was only a three weeks away. He could use the break, but depending on how the team did, they might be practicing during the week if Rick could get away with it. Some of the teams they would be playing were damn good. 

It was only the middle of March and it was already heating up out there. Rick had listen closely to the weather on the way into school. If it got too hot he would have to cancel practice or move it inside. Or even move it to before school or late in the evening if it stayed too hot.

He finally got a chance to talk to Daryl about his shiner during lunch. Daryl swore he'd gotten into a fight with one of the kids in the trailer park over the weekend and he wouldn't do that again.

“I can't tolerate fighting, Daryl,” Rick told him, sitting on the edge of his desk.

“Yeah, I know. It's why I didn't wanna tell you,” Daryl confessed.

Rick still wasn't convinced that Daryl had gotten into a scuffle with one of his neighbors. He tilted his down and looked up at Daryl, this never failed to get someone's undivided attention, “Is there something else going on Daryl? Somebody hurting you?”

Daryl took a minute to answer, his eyes stuck to Rick's, “Nah, Coach. Just a fight like I said.” But his eyes had darted away, not looking Rick in the eye anymore.

“I'm here for you Daryl if you need anything, you know that.”

“Yeah, Coach,” Daryl was scuffing his foot on the linoleum like he had at the ball game the other day, the thousand mile stare back.

Rick shook his head at the boy's tell. Now Rick would always know when he was lying and when he was uncomfortable.

“Go on and eat your lunch, we're gonna have a hard day of practice this afternoon. We have Woodbury tomorrow and they went to State last year,” Rick excused him.

“Thanks, Coach,” Daryl said as he walked out of the room.

Rick wasn't sure what he was thanking him for, but he felt it was the first step in Daryl opening up to him.

–

Practice was just as hot as Rick was afraid it would be, he could see heat mirages coming off the parking lot. He'd asked clingy mom, no  _ Jessie _ , to monitor the temperature and let him know if they exceeded the allowable range. The gym was open if they needed to go inside. 

He'd been tossing balls from the mound to the team that he had spread out in the back field, calling out the name of the person he wanted to catch it and then toss the ball in their general direction. Glenn had said something snarky about the old man losing his touch, so Rick had whipped the ball straight at the smart ass, and hit him dead center in his glove, causing the boy to fall over backward. Glenn sat up and pulled his hand out of his glove shaking it as the rest of the team roared in laughter. It was most likely a bit numb from the speed at which the ball had hit Glenn's glove and maybe he’d learned a lesson too.

Once everyone settled down there was no more mention of Rick being old or out of shape. Throwing the ball to Daryl next, Rick tried to get it a good distance over his head so that he'd have to jump and get it, not unlike if a batter had hit a ball straight back at him. Daryl jumped as Rick had hoped, his shirt riding up with the effort. Rick caught the barest sight of a trail of hair and another bruise on his stomach.

He had to grit his teeth at the sudden anger that he felt, it wouldn't do to lose it in the middle of practice over something he really couldn't do anything about. He threw the ball to some of the boys further out in the field so that he could put his anger into the throw. He wouldn't admit it to the boys, but he was throwing a bit wild now.They would just chalk it up to him varying the times of hits they would have to run after. He even rolled one like a bowling ball for good measure.

“Rick?” he heard Jessie call from behind him.

He turned to see her waving the thermometer, a hand over her eyes to shade them. He nodded in acknowledgment and turned back to the team spread out in front of him, “All right boys, come on in. We'll huddle up in the dugout.”

There was at least shade in the dugout and Jessie would be there to hand out cold water and Gatorade. He waited until the last of the boys had made it off the field, taking note of who seemed to be doing more than sweating, but everyone just looked hot and sweaty. No pale faces or bloodless lips, the first signs of heat exhaustion. They’d had enough time in that he was comfortable calling practice after he gave them the rundown for their next game. 

“All right boys, tomorrow's game is against Woodbury,” a few groans from the team accompanied that statement, “I know they’re a tough team to beat, but I think our outfield is the best it's been in years and Glenn's been kicking it at shortstop this year.”

“Won't get a chance to chase any balls with how Daryl's been pitching,” Glenn said, the rest of the boys voicing their agreement.

Daryl shyly ducked his head.

“Daryl has been doing great, but it's not all on him to win a game,” Shane piped in. He'd been catcher that year they'd gone to state, so he knew about trying to put it all on one guy’s shoulders to win.

Rick nodded to show the boys how he felt about it. He wouldn't allow the team to place all the responsibility for winning on Daryl's shoulders.

“We'll have Jimmy start and we'll see how he's doing in the fourth, if he's doing ok, he can pitch until the sixth. We'll bring Daryl out in the seventh unless we need him sooner.”

Jimmy grew a little pale at the attention he was getting, Rick didn't know why, he was a good pitcher.

“Any questions?” He asked the group, “No? Hit the showers, ya'll stink.”

The team laughed as they left to go to the locker room to clean up. Rick stayed behind to make sure Jessie didn’t clean up the dugout. He'd had to talk to the boys about being such pigs, just because someone was willing to clean up after them, didn't mean they got to act like they lived in a sty. After a few times of having to run extra las after practice for their mess, they got the point. 

“You're such a good coach to these boys,” Jessie praised him.

“Thanks, just trying to live up to Coach Greene's legacy,” Coach Greene was the coach during Rick and Shane's high school baseball career.

“I'm sure he'd be real proud of ya,” She said, turning to look Rick full in the face with a huge smile.

“I would like to think so,” Rick said.

Jessie reached over and put a hand on Rick's arm, “You're a real inspiration.”

Rick pulled his arm out of her grasp and took a step back. He was going to nip this in the bud right now, “I'm real grateful for you volunteering for the team and taking on some of the responsibility for the drinks and snacks and uniforms, but I don't want you to get the wrong impression.”

Jessie covered her mouth with her hand and blushed, her eyes watering up a bit. From behind her hand she said, “I'm so embarrassed. I know you've never seen me that way. Truth be told I kinda gave up senior year,” she laughed a little behind her hand, “It's just that I've never been able to change how I feel. I could give a rat's ass about baseball, but you like it, so...well.”

“Jessie, I'm sorry..” Rick started.

“No, no. It's me, it's always been me mooning over you and knowing you were always going to love Lori...and baseball.” She turned and looked over the field, fingers tracing under her eyes to wipe away her tears, “I never really had a chance. And I'm sorry if I've ever made you feel uncomfortable. I'll try and tone it down a bit, ok?” She gave Rick a watery smile. 

“Ok,” he gave her a small smile, “I gotta go check on the boys. Can't leave them alone too long without adult supervision in a locker room.”

“Isn't Shane with them?”

“That just makes it worse!” Rick laughed as he walked away. That had gone better than he thought, she hadn't tried to convince him that he could love her if he only tried, or some such bull. She'd pretty much let him off the hook, letting him know it was her problem to deal with and not his and she wasn't expecting any kind of reciprocation.

He could hear the boys before he even got to the locker room, Shane’s voice among them, whooping and hollering to beat the band. Shane must have whipped them up into a frenzy again. Rick just hoped they were all decent.

‘Decent’ was a relative term when you were talking about a bunch of teenaged boys in a locker room. They were in various states of undress, some in towels, some just down to their jockstrap, all whipping towels around trying to smack each other on the behind. Shane was in the back near the showers laughing and throwing towels around.

Rick hated to do it, but he put his fingers in his mouth and blew out a shrill whistle. It was comical the way everyone froze in the pose that they had been in when they heard it. They all turned to look at Rick standing in the doorway, hands now on hips, his head tilted in the way  everyone knew meant he was pissed.

“How many of you have actually showered?” only a few hands went up. Rick nodded his head, “I get it. It was a hot practice, it's nice and cool in here, you got your second wind. But if I don't see a bunch of presentable baseball players in,” Rick looked at his watch, “10 minutes, I'll implement 6 a.m. practices starting tomorrow.”

The best part of watching the boys scramble to the shower was watching them tackle Shane to get him out of the way. Rick walked over to him, laughing and reached down to help him up.

“Serves you right for not putting a stop to that bullshit,” He told Shane as he gave a sharp tug.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Shane ducked his head a rubbed the back of his neck like he was wont to do when he knew he was in trouble.

“And don't think you ain't a part of the presentable looking ball players. The boys'll be pissed if it's 'cause of you they gotta be here at 6 tomorrow.”

“Damn Rick, I forgot how scary you could be,” laughed Shane as he turned and went to the showers.

Rick went to his office to check his email and see if there were any issues for the bus tomorrow. Part of the fees to play paid the bus driver's’ salary to drive them to away games. If they went to the playoffs they would have to come up with more money. Which meant more bake sales and more car washes. Woodbury usually just asked for another check from the parents, or so he assumed.

After seeing the confirmation email for the buses for tomorrow, Rick headed out to the locker room to see if the boys all got their shower and redressed in their ten minute time frame. He had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing when he got back to the locker room. Shane had them all standing at attention in front of their locker, hands behind their back, eyes forward. Just like an army recruit. Rick played along and walked down the line, 'inspecting' his troops. He chose to ignore the occasional soap bubble.

Pausing for a long time, hands behind his back and rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet, Rick finally said, “Good job. Now go on and get on home,” the boys all left with a whoop, Shane running after them.

Rick shook his and laughed. He got a good look at himself and noticed he was pretty sweaty too. Lori hated when he came home all stinky and sweaty. He kept a spare set of clothes here for just that reason.

He found a clean towel and went to his office to change out of his clothes, he'd come back here after his shower to put on the clean ones. The sound of a shower running surprised him when he got to the shower room. The boys had a bad habit of leaving them running, and maintenance had learned to come by shortly after practice to make sure they were all off. It was just the one closest to the door, so Rick went ahead and stood under the spray after he'd hung his towel up on the wall.

Rick tilted his head back and let the lukewarm water spray over him, running his hands through his hair to get it wet. He had a lot of thick hair that could barely be kept tamed and it took a few minutes to get it thoroughly soaked. He reached blindly for the soap on the shelf in front of him and spewed out a bit in his hand. He massaged it in and then started washing the rest of his body, running his hands down his body in swirling pattern.

He thought he heard something by the door, but if he opened his eyes he'd get them full of soap. It was probably just the maintenance guys come to clean the locker room.

Rick finally got himself soaped up from head to toe and turned his face to the spray again, running his hands through his hair to push the soap out, and then ran his hands over his face to make sure he'd gotten all the soap washed off too. He still kept his eyes closed as he rinsed the rest of his body, bending over a bit to get at his feet.

When he stood back up and opened his eyes he reached over to turn off the shower. He noticed something white out of the corner of his eye and whipped around to see Daryl there with a look of surprise on his face and a towel slung low across his waist that did nothing to conceal his obvious arousal.

Daryl backed out of the room before Rick could even cover his own self. Quickly turning off the water and grabbed his towel, he was debating whether or not he should even say anything to Daryl when he heard a door bang in the bathroom.

He padded into the room quietly, not wanting to spook the poor kid. He could hear noises coming from the far stall and at first he thought Daryl was crying, so he rushed to the door. But as he got closer he could tell Daryl was definitely not crying. No he was pretty sure the sounds he was hearing were the sounds of someone masturbating.

Rick guessed he'd hung back on taking his shower until the rest of the boys left so he could rub one out in the shower. There  _ was  _ a small risk of being caught, hence the draw of doing it in a semi-public place. Unfortunately, he'd actually been caught. Rick turned to leave, to let him take care of his...well, to give him some privacy.

He'd just made it to the doorway when he heard what sounded like a hand slamming into the wall and then, “Coach!” whimpered out in ecstasy.

Rick almost answered him before  it dawned on him. Rick hadn't  _ interrupted _ a potential wank, he'd been the  _ cause _ of it.

Well, shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :0 dun, dun, dunnnnn


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How many ways can we say... _Awkward_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, thank you eternally to 1Lostone and TWDObsessive for the beta duties. This chapter also got heavily edited after they took a peek at it, so any mistakes are mine.

Rick found himself back his office, closing the door without even registering the click of the latch against the striker. He pulled out his desk chair and sat, his head in a haze. The knot in his towel dug into his navel as he tried to come to terms with what he’d just heard.

That was...unexpected. Rick couldn't think past the sound of Daryl's hand banging on the stall wall and then the, 'Coach!'. It was on a loop in his head.  _ 'Bang _ ! Coach!'.  _ 'Bang _ ! Coach!'.  _ 'Bang _ ! Coach!'.

Rick threaded his hands in his hair and laid his head on his desk. This was a much bigger problem than Jessie's...thing. Maybe..probably. Crap.

Shane would have a fucking field day. No, nope, he wasn't going to tell Shane. Or anyone else for that matter. Daryl hadn't even hinted before now that he had a crush on Rick. It was a good bet Rick wouldn't say anything, ever.

Of course, he did say 'coach', not 'Mr. Grimes' or 'Rick', so he could just as easily be fantasizing about Shane. That was probably it, Shane already had girls crushing on him, why not a guy too? But Daryl hadn't just caught Shane buck naked in the shower, he'd caught Rick. And if memory served, it was a few minutes between when Rick had heard the noise he'd thought was maintenance, and when he'd opened his eyes and saw that Daryl was getting an eye full.

_ Okay, calm down _ , Daryl didn't know Rick had heard him. So, he would just pretend Daryl hadn't, just push it to the back of his mind like when he'd seen his mom and dad having sex that one time. And now that was stuck in his head. His dad's pale ass pumping away...Oh for the love of  _ GOD _ !

Rick stood up, losing his towel in the process and went to the corner where he'd left his gym bag. The sooner he got the fuck out of here, the sooner he could forget about 'The Bathroom Incident'. Crap, now it had a name.

After retrieving his bag he turned back to his desk to set it there while he dug his change of clothes out.

And there was Daryl, fresh from the shower, standing in the doorway of the door that hadn't fucking shut. Daryl's hair was wet (still in his eyes) but he was dressed and holding his backpack, mouth comically open as he started at Rick's nakedness.

Rick awkwardly tried to cover himself with his gym bag, banging his crotch painfully. He held in his wince, barely, and asked, “A little privacy, Daryl?”

“Shit, sorry Coach!” Daryl walked backwards out of the office, not taking his eyes of Rick's naked body, crashing into the door jam on the way.

“And shut the door behind you!” Rick called out.

Holy fuck, that was...more than awkward. That was embarrassing and awkward, embara-kward. Rick dropped the bag he was holding and covered his face with his hands. It was a good thing that Daryl was as talkative as one of those silent order monks, or this would be all over school by lunch tomorrow. He'd never been so fucking grateful that Daryl Dixon was the quiet type.

Taking a deep breath to center himself, he quickly got dressed. Tossing the towel in the laundry hamper on his walk through the locker room, he booked it to the door. And almost ran straight into Dale, the night maintenance guy.

“What's your hurry, Rick?” Dale asked, hands in front of his body.

“Sorry, Dale. Running late to get home and you know how Lori is about punctuality,” Rick laughed nervously.

Dale Horvath had been the maintenance man when Rick had been a student and knew him, Lori, and Shane well. Hell, Rick had invited him to the wedding. Pissed Lori off, but she'd said he could invite whoever he wanted as long as he kept it under twenty people. She'd invited two hundred.

“Oh, hell Rick, I understand. My wife can get a bit cranky when I'm late too,” Dale said.

“Okay, man, I'll see ya later,” Rick said as he rushed for the door.

“Oh, hey Rick?”

Rick turned around, hip on the door, ready to push it open, “Yeah?”

“I think that Dixon boy needs a ride home. Everybody's gone and it looks like it's going to rain. Be a shame if he had to walk home in it.”

Dale looked meaningfully into Rick’s eyes. It really wasn’t a request, that was as much of an order as if Dale had said, “Go get the boy before the rain hits, dumbass”.

“Yeah. Thanks Dale. I'll take care of it.” Just fucking perfect. 

Rick grimaced, he'd probably said some variation of 'fuck' more in the last half hour than he had all month. Fuck. Was there something worse than embara-kward? Mega embara-kward?

When Rick got outside, he could see that the skies were indeed getting ready to open up. The wind was blowing and the sky was a dark, swirling mass. The trees around campus were swaying hard and the leaves were fluttering in the wind. The sound of the wind and the leaves in the trees loud and foreshadowing the coming storm. 

He could just make out Daryl walking on the other side of the parking lot, and he’d be three kinds of an ass if he just drove by him and let the kid walk the two miles home. Rick already knew where the kid lived, and it wasn't far from Rick's house. So it was technically on the way. And Dale would  _ know _ . 

Yep, mega embara-kward ride, coming up.

Rick ran over to his truck and unlocked his door, jumping a bit at the loud crack of thunder and flash of light overhead. Getting in he reached over and unlocked the other door. He couldn't dump his gym bag in the passenger seat like he usually did, so he had to climb back out and tip the driver's seat forward so he could stow it behind the seat. Which necessitated him re-adjusting the seat.

By the time he got the seat adjusted, his seat belt on, and the truck started and in gear, raindrops were starting to pelt his windshield and Daryl was nowhere to be seen. Damn, he'd have to see if he could catch up to him before Daryl tried to duck into the woods.

Rick spun the tires trying to get going, his back end fishtailing on the way out of the parking lot. The dark skies were going to make it harder to find Daryl, but he was determined now. Dale had an amazing ability to know when someone had fucked up and wasn't afraid to call you on it. Just because he was maintenance, did not mean Rick didn't respect him, and would feel like shit to disappoint him.

He found Daryl at the end of the street, huddled under his hoodie trying to keep the majority of the rain off of him. He stepped out of the way when he heard Rick's truck rumble up behind him, and didn't turn around at first when Rick stopped the truck. Rick had manual windows, so he couldn't roll down the window to yell at the boy. He was about to honk when Daryl turned and faced the truck, a flash of lightning illuminating his face. He just stood there looking at Rick through the window until Rick motioned for him to get in.

Rick tried real hard to not hear the lyrics to 'Don't Stand So Close To Me' in his head.

Daryl wrenched the door open finally and jumped in, not looking at Rick, “I don't need a ride. I've walked home in the rain before.”

“Yeah, well Mr. Horvath told me to give you a ride and I sure as hell am not going to tell him I didn't,” Rick told him.

Daryl opened his mouth, but Rick cut him off, “Nope, ain't gonna lie to him. He'd know. And you know it."

Daryl nodded his head. Dale did know things and it was kinda creepy, but even the shithead jocks and preppy boys left the older man alone, because he just  _ knew _ stuff.

Rick reached to turn the radio on, praying to god that that Police song wasn't playing. He wasn’t sure the prayer did any good -, it was Nirvana’s 'Heart Shaped Box'. Perfect, maybe Daryl wouldn’t know what the box really was. Daryl gave a snort, so much for him not knowing, and turned to the window just like the last time Rick had given him a ride home, almost a week ago.

The plan now was not saying a word until he got Daryl home, and then it would be, 'see you tomorrow' and that's it. No asking how he was doing, no questions about if he was going to prom, and certainly no questions about if there was a girl Daryl was interested in.

He saw movement out of the corner of his eye and turned to see Daryl shift his army surplus back pack onto his lap. Those things were big, and it looked like it had a lot in it, he could have put it on the fl...oh. Daryl was twisting the strap of the bag pretty hard, and his legs were spread a bit more than there was really room for, his head was turned so far all Rick could see was the back of his head.

Super, mega, embara-kward. Rick pressed the clutch and shifted the truck into first gear and took off, fishtailing again. By now the rain was coming down in waves and the wind was buffeting the truck. Rick slowed down to a crawl to try and see the road ahead of him, worried that he could drive right off the road and not even notice until they hit a ditch.

He finally decided to wait it out for a bit when he felt his tires fall off the edge of the road and run through the gravel of the shoulder. He stopped there with the right side tires off the road and put his emergency flashers on. Outside of the truck everything was thickly gray and swirling. 

Nirvana had been replaced with Aerosmith's 'Dude Looks Like a Lady' (dun ah, dun ah). Not exactly a much better song in the grand scheme of things. Although, it could have been “Love in an Elevator’. Thoughts of turning off the radio were quickly abandoned because sitting alone in the truck with Daryl without even that bit of distraction was too much for Rick to contemplate. 

Daryl turned to look at him now, and Rick could see his cheeks were bright red (good, at least Rick wasn't the only one feeling super, mega, embar-kward).

“ 'M sorry for...” Daryl started.

“No need to apologize. I should apologize to you. I thought everyone was gone, seeing as I had told everyone to get in and get out of the shower or we'd have 6 a.m. practice,” Rick didn't want the poor kid to feel worse. At least Daryl didn't know Rick had overheard him in the bathroom stall ( _Bang!_ Coach!). Rick swallowed hard and tried to will the rain to at least slow down.

“I, uh, always take my shower after everyone leaves,” Daryl explained to Rick. His eyes had focused on the strap of the backpack that he was slowly wringing the life out of.

Rick nodded his head, he wouldn't ask why. The workings of a teenage mind weren't much of a mystery to Rick anymore now that he'd been teaching for four years and coaching for five. Knowing Daryl, he was just too shy to undress in front of the other guys.

The rain continued to pound the truck, lighting flashing and thunder crashing, and didn't look like it would let up anytime soon. Rick startled as the loud 'BEEP BEEP BEEP' of the emergency management system interrupted 'Tainted Love' by Soft Cell (what the hell was that song doing on a classic rock station?), the man’s mechanical voice warning about flooding, severe storms, and a tornado warning for King County and all the surrounding counties.

Daryl was biting his thumb, looking out the window nervously. A trailer park was not a good place to be during a tornado warning, and Rick couldn’t see taking Daryl home to a flimsy house during a storm like this one. The rain hadn't let up at all and the lighting seemed to be striking all around them, the thunder almost immediately following the flashes.

“I think we should go back to the school, hunker down in the locker room, and wait it out,” Rick said, taking off the parking brake and putting the truck in gear.

Daryl just nodded his head, eyes wide.

Rick prayed no one was coming as he did a U-turn in the middle of the street. They hadn't gone that far and it should take them just a few minutes to get back to the school. It actually took nearly twenty minutes, Rick driving slow, hunched over the steering wheel trying to see out, and wipers going a mile a minute.

He'd turned the radio off, trying to focus on getting them back to the school in one piece. He was mostly driving by the flashes of the lighting, his head lights just reflecting back at him from the rain drops. It was slow going.

Rick could finally see the outfield fence during one of the flashes and knew they were almost there. It wasn't a minute too soon either as hail had started to pound the truck. Rick just left the truck right next to the locker room door and he and Daryl made a run for it, Daryl using his backpack to shield his head from the torrent.

And  _ of course  _ the door was locked, Dale must have bailed as soon as Rick left. Cursing as he fumbled with the keys to get the door unlocked, Rick finally managing it when Daryl raised his backpack to cover Rick's head.

He reached over to switch the light on, but nothing happened.  _ Of course  _ the electric was out. So now he was stuck in the locker room, soaking wet, in the dark, in the middle of fucking storm, a tornado on the way, with the kid who had an obvious crush on him. Fucking perfect.

Rick patted his pockets looking for his cell phone so he could use the flashlight app, but  _ of course _ , it was in his gym bag, in the truck.

“You got your cell phone on you Daryl?”

“Don't got a cell phone.”

“Don't have,” Rick said, automatically correcting Daryl.

“Whatever, I don't have one.”

Just then something banged hard against the door, making the two jump.

“Let's get away from the door,” Rick suggested, “Um, grab onto me. I've been in this locker room more times than I can count since my freshman year, I should be able to get around in the dark.”

Rick felt Daryl's hand connect with his arm and slide down until he just felt a brush of fingers on his wrist before they traveled back up to latch onto his shoulder. He was a little surprised Daryl would try and cop a feel. Rick shook his head.

“Come on.”

The goal was his office. He had a landline phone in there and he hoped it would work even in the power outage. He took careful steps, because even though he could get around with his eyes closed, he was pretty sure Dale hadn't had enough time to pick up before he’d lit out.

Rick had his hand out in front of him, blindly reaching out, looking for the door to his office. He hit his knuckles hard on the door jam, causing him to curse again.

“You okay?” Daryl asked instinctively.

“Yeah, just banged my hand,” Rick shook his hand out to try and get rid of the pins and needles.

He kept creeping forward to his goal on his desk, his thigh connecting with the edge painfully.

“Shit. And yes I'm okay,” he answered before Daryl had a chance to ask.

He found one of the chairs that sat in front of his desk and grabbing Daryl's hand, directed him to it.

He could hear Daryl fall into the chair as he groped around on the desk for the phone. He knocked the receiver off and heard it slide off the edge of the desk. Good thing it wasn't cordless, he didn't want to be crawling around on the concrete floor looking for it. He found the cord and pulled the receiver to him, but knew it was a lost cause before he even got it up to his ear. Instead of a dial tone, all he heard was static.

Great, just fucking great.

“I guess we'll have to..."

But he didn't get the words out because at that moment the doors to the building flew open with a terrible noise, scattering debris all over the room

“Get under the desk!” he yelled at Daryl as he scrambled to the office door to slam it shut.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all your lovely comments! I really liked this chapter because it felt a little lighter than the others, but don't get used to it. Because there will be angst (so much angst), just you wait! Bwhaahaha


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The storm and the aftermath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tinkered with this (again) after 1Lostone and TWDObsessive did their fantastic beta work, so any mistakes are mine. 
> 
> And again, this is for my good friend TWDObsessive.

Rick barely got the door slammed shut and locked. He reached behind him and grabbed the edge of the chair, propping it under the door handle to help keep it shut, knowing in the back of his head it wouldn’t do a damn bit of good if the tornado did hit. 

He crawled under the desk, squeezing in with Daryl. As soon as Daryl felt Rick join him, he grabbed Rick around the neck and held on tight. Rick awkwardly put an arm around the shaking kid.

“We'll be all right,” he said in Daryl's ear.

But Daryl just hugged him tighter.

Rick started rubbing his hand down the frightened young man's back, trying to keep him calm. Daryl jumped back, hitting his head on the underside of the desk.

“Sorry, don't like to have my back touched,” Daryl said over the fury of the storm.

“Yeah, okay.”

Rick slid his hand along the floor until he made contact with Daryl's hand, grasping it, he pulled Daryl to him. Daryl let himself be pulled into Rick and laid his head on Rick's shoulder as Rick wrapped an arm around Daryl to hold the shaking boy to him.

“Is this okay?” Rick asked him, rubbing circles with his thumb on Daryl's shoulder.

“Yeah,” the breath of Daryl's word caressing Rick's neck.

Rick had truly forgotten for a minute how the boy felt about him, worried only about keeping him safe and calm. The arm Rick had wrapped around Daryl was just to comfort him and make him feel secure. There was nothing else to be done but hold on and hope for the best at this point. 

The locker room was still a cacophony of noise - wind howling and sudden crashes as objects hit the little building, the doors rattling in their frames and the roof shuddering - so there was no way Rick could start a conversation about boundaries and inappropriateness. But he wouldn't be able to avoid the conversation after this. The one where Rick said he was flattered, but Daryl was a student and Rick was married. And also that even though there was nothing wrong with that, Rick wasn't gay.

Daryl didn’t move any further. Just held onto Rick’s shirt and kept his head buried in Rick’s neck as the storm raged around them, his breath shallow and quick as he trembled in Rick’s arm.

***

“Hello? Rick, ya in here buddy?” Shane’s voice was loud after the sudden silence after the tornado blew over.

Rick’s watch said they’d been there under the desk for at least two hours. He’d tried to crawl out after the dust had settled, but part of the roof had fallen in and covered them. They had to wait for rescue and it came in the form of Shane.

“We’re here! Under the desk!” Rick hollered back.

“Man, are you okay? Lori’s done called me ten times looking for ya.” Shane’s voice was getting closer, along with crashing noises as the big man worked his way towards Rick and Daryl.

“You can tell her you found me,” Rick said.

A piece of the roof shifted out of the way and Shane’s head popped into the space, “You can tell her yourself.”

“Glad to see ya, man.” Rick let his relief show on his face.

Shane’s brow drew together, “Is that you, Dixon?”

Daryl peeked around Rick’s body at Shane and nodded his head. Rick hoped Shane didn’t get the wrong impression, even if Daryl was mostly draped across his body. The last two hours had been interesting to say the least. 

Since they were both men of few words, they’d hardly talked the whole time. Mostly made sure they were both okay and periodic checks of the time. Daryl had loosened his hold on Rick once the storm had passed, but there wasn’t much space for the two of them, so Daryl still had been touching Rick from shoulder to knee the whole time. But Rick could tell that the boy was still unsettled, too unsettled to do more than sit in tense silence. Rick had begun to wonder if Daryl had been in a tornado before or was just frightened of storms. 

“Yeah, it’s me. Coach saw me walking home and made me come back here.” It was mostly the truth. There wasn’t any reason to change the story, but Daryl didn’t seem to want to elaborate and Rick didn’t see the point either.

“Sounds about right, Coach Grimes is a good man,” Shane said as he extended a hand down to help them out of their shelter. 

It was tricky getting out of the locker room, the walls had remained standing, but the roof and all the contents were in a chaotic mess a good four feet high. Shane had brought help in the form of Dale and Eugene, one of the other maintenance guys, and they were already working on clearing a path.

“Tornado just hit the building and tore up the parking lot a bit. If you’da been a mile down the road, you probably wouldn’t have even seen it,” Shane said as they worked their way out of the destroyed building. 

Rick could see flashing lights as he worked his way to the exit. It looked like the whole fire and police departments had shown up. “We probably made it a mile down the road and turned back because it was coming down so hard and then the hail started.”

“Why didn’t you call and let someone know where you were?” Shane asked.

“I left my phone in the truck. It was coming down in buckets and I didn’t think to grab it when we ran back to the building,” Rick said.

By the time they’d made their way out of the building, they were surrounded by firemen with thermal blankets and bottles of water. Rick took the water gratefully, but turned down the blanket. He lost track of Daryl in the confusion, but he assumed he was getting the same treatment, it looked like all of the fire department and half of the police had shown up and it was only Rick and Daryl that needed any help.

After convincing the EMT that he didn’t need to go to the hospital, Rick looked around for his truck. It certainly wasn’t where he’d parked it. His heart sank a little further with each scan of the parking lot. He really did love that truck.

Shane was finally able to get past the protective ring around Rick and put a warm hand on Rick’s shoulder, “You good man?” 

“Yeah. Ready to go home as soon as I find my truck.”

Grimacing, Shane shook his head. “Rick, buddy, truck’s totaled. Landed in the middle of the field.”

Rick looked over to the baseball field and did, in fact, see his beloved Chevy wheels up and several inches deep in the dirt near first base. “Damn,” he whispered.

He pushed past Shane and made a beeline for the field. He’d had that truck since his freshman year of college, drove it down to Panama City for spring break, took Lori on their first date, brought Carl home in it. Damn thing was like a part of the family.

And now it was mangled in a field. There was no rescuing it. The cab was crushed, the glass all broken out. The two wheels on the driver’s side were at a weird angle too. Rick sighed and ran a hand down the bottom side of the bed, his fingers just catching on the rust behind the tire well.

Figuring he might as well try and get his stuff out of it, he got down on his hands and knees by the window and peered in to see if he could locate his duffle bag. His phone should be his top priority now, Lori would probably be frantic.

He tried to get his hand behind the seat, but the roof was crushed down on it and Rick just couldn’t find a way to get to his bag. It was probably waterlogged anyway. His knees and hands were squelching in the mud and there was a good inch of water collected in the top (bottom?) of the cab. 

A hand grabbed his shoulder in a tight grip and he knew Shane had come out to lend his support. Shane understood about Rick’s love for his truck, had helped to replace the brake lines a year ago and gas filter the year before that. Rick had hoped to keep it until Carl was old enough to drive it.

“C’mon. I’ll take you home,” Shane offered, “The fire marshal said we have to leave everything the way it is until the guy from the national weather service comes out and assesses the damages.” 

Rick nodded his head and stood up and looked around at the devastation around them. The baseball field was littered with more than just his truck. There were all kinds of detritus from around the school - the dumpster that used to sit beside the locker room, part of the fence, some tree branches, and another car. Not to mention the bits of trash and paper that lay in piles or lay randomly around the field. 

What he didn’t see was Daryl Dixon. 

“Did you see where Daryl went?” He asked Shane.

Shane shook his head, “I heard him tell the EMTs he was good. They wanted to hang onto him until his dad showed up, but Daryl’s eighteen, so they couldn’t make him stay.”

Rick blew out a breath. He wasn’t surprised that Daryl would hot foot it as soon as he could. He hadn’t known he was eighteen, but he was a senior, and most kids turned eighteen before they actually graduated, so it wasn’t that surprising. 

“Let me borrow your phone? Gotta call Lori and let her know I’m okay.”

“Sure, man,” Shane had his phone out and handed to Rick even before Rick could get himself up out of the mud.

She picked up before the first ring even finished, “Shane? Did they find him? Is he dead? Shane?”

“Lori…”

“Rick! Oh thank god! I thought you were dead! Shane said they’d found your truck but you weren’t in it and the weatherman said the tornado hit the school and…”

“Lori...I’m okay. Didn’t get a scratch on me. Shane’s gonna bring me home. Is Carl okay?”

“Yeah, we went down to the basement. Everything is okay here. Just need you to come home. Carl has been worried sick.” Her voice had taken on the stringent quality that it did when she was upset. 

“I’m on my way. I love you.”

“Love you, too.”

Rick hung up and looked at Shane. But Shane wasn’t looking at Rick, he was rubbing his chin and looking at the hubbub of the first responders and the news crews that had just shown up. 

“You ready man?” Rick asked him.

Shane gestured with his head in the general direction of home, “Let’s go before somebody wants to talk to you.”

That was a fine idea in Rick’s mind. He just wanted to get home and see Lori and Carl and maybe have a beer. Or three.

\---

Carl ran into his arms as soon as he opened the door. “So glad to see you buddy,” Rick said as he held his son tight. 

“Mommy kept sayin’ you were missin’ and she feared the worst.” Carl said into Rick’s neck. “What’s the worst?”

Rick chuckled, “It just means that she was afraid something really bad happened. But, I”m ok. Just got stuck under my desk for a little bit.”

Carl looked at his dad with big eyes, “Were you too big?” 

“No! The building fell apart and stuff fell in front of the desk and it was too big for me to move.” Rick said with a smile. “Where’s your mom?”

He’d really thought she’d be at the door too, but she might be in the kitchen. Hopefully getting him a beer, but that was wishful thinking. 

“Lori?”

She turned to him and smiled when he walked into the kitchen, her cell phone crooked on her ear, “Hold on,” she said into the phone.

“Rick!” 

She smelled like home. Clean and just a hint of her perfume, something citrusy and rosy. She fit into his arms perfectly, just like always.

“I was so worried! I thought you would have been home before the storm hit. And then when you didn’t answer your phone I feared the worst. No one knew where you were,” she said into his neck.

“I’m okay, just left my phone in the truck while I was hunkering down in the locker room,” he said as he rubbed her arms.

She pulled away and looked behind him, “Where is Shane?”

“He dropped me off and went back to the ballfield. He wanted to take pictures and see if he could help keep folks from walking off with any of the equipment.”

“So good of him to think of that. Do you need a beer?” She asked as she turned towards the refrigerator.

“God, yes!” He sighed as he sat at the kitchen island. Carl had followed him and was now plastered to his side.

“Okay, let me get off the phone with the pastor’s wife and I’ll get it for you.”

Rick felt his smile tighten. He was sure that she was just reassuring the woman that he was fine and was trying to politely get off the phone. Lori always was finding ways to talk to the other woman. Rick stayed out of the politics of the church, but Lori liked to stay in the thick of things. He watched as she paced to the dining room, still talking. Figuring it would take longer than a few minutes by the way she was describing the events to the woman, Rick gave in and just got the beer himself and went to the living room to relax on the sofa.

He’d barely sat down when Lori came swooping in, “Rick! You’re covered in mud! Don’t sit on the sofa. Why don’t you go upstairs and get a shower and something clean on?”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea, Lori.” 

Lori didn’t seem to hear, she was back on the phone again, her back to him. He suddenly felt very tired and strung out, a shower did sound good.

When he came back from his shower, wearing a set of sweats, she was still on the phone. She put her hand over the phone and mouthed, “Ordered pizza.” That perked him up. At least he wouldn’t have to endure her meatloaf tonight.

Hanging up the phone, she came and sat by him on the couch, “I guess the truck is totaled?”

Rick gave a tight nod, holding his arm up so Lori could snuggle in. 

“I wonder what the insurance will pay on it? Probably not enough to cover a new truck, but maybe we can get one that isn’t that old,” She said distractedly.

“I don’t know. Hadn’t really ever thought of replacing it,” he replied.

She shook her head, “Oh please Rick. That thing was getting to be an eyesore. And it had no resale value. Who drives a stick shift anymore?”

“Takes skill,” he told her.

She scoffed, “No more skill than it takes to chew gum and walk at the same time. It’s just a pain to have to do it. Doesn’t matter. We can get online and start looking for a new one as soon as we get it turned into the insurance company.”

“I don’t want a new truck,” Rick said stubbornly.

“Well, you have to drive something! I guess we can get an SUV instead.”

“Yeah, I know. But, can it wait a few days? I’ve had that truck for a long time.” 

Lori laughed, “Rick! It’s just a truck! And not even a nice truck! It was rusting out and you and Shane have to fix something on it every damn year!”

“I was planning on it being Carl’s first vehicle.”

“You have got to be kidding! That thing would have been on it’s last legs by then! That’s if it hadn’t rusted out completely! There is no way that I would let Carl drive something that would be that unreliable!” She sat up and looked at him in horror. 

Rick stood up and walked to the fireplace to steady himself, “Lori, that truck has seen us through all our important steps. It’s like a …”

He didn’t get to finish his thought because Lori’s cell phone rang. She didn’t even look in Rick’s direction as she jumped off the couch and answered it. “Hello? Oh yes! He’s fine! I was so worried! I don’t know what I would have done if something were to have happened to him! Oh, yes he has life insurance of course…”

Rick didn’t bother to listen anymore. He went to the garage and stood in the empty spot where his truck should be. Sure, there were a few spots where the thing had leaked various fluids, but it  _ had  _ been a good truck. He looked over toward Lori’s big SUV. She’d wanted a Highlander, but Rick had balked when he saw how much they’d be paying every month for the damn thing. It would have been more than their house payment. As it was, Lori’s Tahoe stretched the budget enough.  

Carl trotted through the open door just then and interrupted Rick’s ruminations. “Pizza’s here!”

Rick ran a hand through Carl’s hair and thought about how he would be missing out on driving the truck when he was older. Maybe Lori was right, maybe the truck wouldn’t be around still by then. But Rick would have damn sure tried.

“Great! I’m starvin’,” he said with a little nudge to Carl to get him going. Maybe instead of a new truck, he could find another one that was about the same age as the one he’d just lost. He’d just have to convince Lori.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for your lovely comments and all the kudos. I am humbled by how excited you all are and I hope this fic continues to live up to your praise. 
> 
> I did write Lori as a bit of a bitch, but it's hard to be a stay at home mom to a precocious kid. And I can totally understand her feelings about the truck, but then again, I would have faith in my husband to keep it running. 
> 
> Also, DM'ing me in RWG is not going to get you any clues to what happens next. ;P


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rick is sad. Daryl has a problem. Shane to the rescue!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm humbled by your comments. KatyTheInspiredWorkaholic assures me that it means you guys love the fic. 
> 
> Thank you to 1Lostone for betaing this chapter again after I added about 800 more words, she's super busy and I'm honored she took the time for little old me. 
> 
> This fic is for my dear friend TWDObsessive. She is a wonderful person with a terribly (read: awesomely!) smutty mind. 
> 
> Please enjoy!

The school was only closed one day, just enough for the school board and the FEMA folks to determine the main buildings hadn’t sustained any damage. Luckily it was all confined to the baseball field and the fieldhouse, the path of the tornado a clear line from one side of the field to the other. 

Not really lucky for the baseball team though. 

Rick had spent the day getting a new cell phone (they didn’t sell flip phones anymore, so he had to get a smartphone that was probably smarter than him)and then trying to contact all the kids and parents on the team to assure them that he was going to make sure the disruptions to the schedule would be minimal. He never did get hold of Daryl or his family. He was still worried about the kid, but Shane had assured him the kid was resourceful, not that that made Rick feel any better.  

Once he’d made contact with his team, he then called the other coaches in the district and the athletic board. The field was out of commision for the rest of the season. No way they could play on it until it was repaired. He would have to arrange for places to have practice and home games. 

Thankfully, everyone was more than willing to make space for Rick and the team. Except for Woodbury. Well, that wasn’t exactly true. Blake had said that Rick could use their facilities, but he felt like he it was insinuated that he would owe Blake something down the line. So, he decided not to take Blake up on his offer. Alexandria High had offered enough assistance; Reg and Deanna were good people. 

It was a late dinner by the time he’d been able to sit down to the meal Lori had prepared, rubbery chicken that was a bit charred on the outside with broccoli and rice. Rick was happy that she always checked the temperature of the meat before serving now. She hadn’t when they first got married and all it took was one bloody chicken dinner for her to learn that lesson.

“Did you call the insurance company about the truck?” She asked.

Rick shook his head, “Didn’t get a chance to. Spent the day trying to figure out how we’re gonna finish the season.”

She huffed before angrily taking a bite of chicken.

“I’ll call tomorrow,” he promised.

She fixed him with a steely gaze, “If I had known you wouldn’t be able to fit it into your day, I would have called them.”

He took a deep breath to calm himself, “If you hadn’t run out of here as soon as I got up, you would have known.”

“I had to go to the church and help with the donations for the tornado victims!”

“Well, I didn’t know that, did I? You didn’t tell me where you were going and you didn’t answer the phone when I called.” 

Lori slammed her fork down, “I left you a note on the fridge!”

Rick glanced at the refrigerator and looked for the note. All he could see was Carl’s weekly picture that he was allowed to hang and the few magnets that Lori had collected from their travels. “What note?”

Lori pushed her chair back angrily and pulled a piece of paper from the side of the refrigerator, “See? ‘ _ Rick, going down to the church to help with donations. Phone doesn’t work in the basement, I’ll call you when I can,’ _ ” she read.

Rick looked down at his plate for a second before answering, “Don’t usually look at the side of the fridge, and you still didn’t call me.”

“I was busy,” Lori said through gritted teeth.

Rick stood up from the table, his appetite gone. “I’m sure you were. But so was I. I’m the coach of the baseball team and I have twenty-five kids and their parents relying on me. I only have a couple of days to get shit straightened out before our next game.”

“Why don’t you just forfeit the game? It’s just one game. I’m sure the team could make it up.”

“It’s against Woodbury! The kids have been looking forward to this game since we got our asses spanked by them last year!” Rick cried out in exasperation.

Lori crossed her arms dramatically, “That seems like an even better reason to forfeit! Why would the kids want to be beat again?”

Rick clutched the back of his chair, “If you’d take time out of your busy schedule, you’d know we have a real chance to make it to state this year. We’re 2 and 0. And Shane and I can’t wait to have a chance at that asshat, Blake.”

“Asshat!” Carl said loudly from his seat. Rick had forgotten their son was sitting there listening.

“Carl! That’s a bad word!” Lori chided him.

“Daddy said it!” Carl protested.

Rick held up his hands to Lori and then looked over to Carl, “Daddy shouldn’t have said that. You go on and finish your dinner.” He looked back at Lori, “I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to call the insurance company, I’ll call them tomorrow at lunch.”

“Fine,” she said, face tight and her arms crossed.

“I’m gonna go out back and throw a few balls.” It’s what Rick did to blow off steam, had since he was a kid. It helped him control his anger when it got to be too much, certainly better than punching a hole in a wall. 

Lori’s eyes softened, “Rick…”

He shook his head, “It’s not you. It’s been a rough couple of days and I just need to throw a few balls and clear my head. I’ll be back in to give Carl his bath.”

“Okay,” she said as she pulled her chair out to sit back down. “Do you want me to keep your plate warm?”

“No, I don’t think I can eat.” Besides, Rick knew there was some pizza left in the fridge that he could heat up if he did get hungry later. And he didn’t think the chicken would warm up and still be edible.

He went to the garage and retrieved the bucket of baseballs that were stored on a low shelf next to his shop vac and his smaller tool bag. His eyes lingered on the spot where his Chevy used to sit. Rick wasn’t even sure where it was right now. Probably already towed to the salvage yard, he’d need to go find it to get his stuff out of it at least. Maybe say goodbye.

Deciding he was being too maudlin, Rick hauled the bucket out to the back yard. They had a nice big, flat, fenced in yard. Lori had insisted and Rick had thought it was a good idea. The first night in the house after they’d bought it Rick had stood in the backyard drinking a beer and imagined setting up a little baseball field for Carl, but instead there were soccer goals on either side. At least Carl got out and burned off some energy instead of sitting in the house glued to the tv.

Didn’t matter how it was set up, the yard was deep enough for him to throw as hard as he could. Nothin’ but woods behind the house anyway. One of these days he was going to have to go on a scavenger hunt and find all the balls he’d thrown over the years. Rick didn’t want to think about how many buckets of balls were back there, he was pretty sure he got a new bucket once a year. 

He warmed up a by lobbing a few balls and rotating his shoulder before he really started ripping them. Daryl may have a nice fastball, but Rick’s was still sharp and precise. He threw with no unnecessary movements and the ball seemed to explode from his hand. At nearly twenty-eight, Rick’s body was still in it’s prime and he had no doubt he could easily get on a farm team if he really wanted. He didn’t like the thought of leaving his family though, especially Carl, and the pay wasn’t all that great, so it was only a passing thought. And after a few minutes even passing fancies were gone, just Rick throwing ball after ball into the gathering darkness. 

Carl came out after a bit and Rick showed him how to hold the ball, his hand was still too small, and the ball only went about ten feet, but it was a start. Rick would probably catch ten kinds of hell from Lori, but damn it, Carl was his kid too. And baseball was a big part of Rick’s life and he should be able to share that with his own kid. And the smile on Carl’s face when he threw one well enough that Rick could catch it, well, that was worth Lori’s ire. 

\---

School was just as chaotic as Rick imagined. The noise level throughout the whole building was probably double what it normally would have been. And if he had a nickel for every kid that walked past his door and gave him the eye like they thought he’d suddenly grown another head, well, he wouldn’t need to worry about calling the insurance company. Which he needed to do today at lunch or Lori would have his hide.

Daryl showed up to school at least. Rick desperately wanted to talk to him, but the class was too worked up about the tornado and Rick’s part in it. He’d already fielded questions all day long. For some reason, Daryl’s name hadn’t been mentioned at all when it was reported on the news. Maybe because Daryl had been gone by the time the crews had shown up. It was probably for the best, Daryl wouldn't appreciate the attention. 

Rick did get a chance at lunch to talk to him, Daryl stayed in his seat like he’d done before when he hadn’t had any lunch money, hiding in his hoodie again. Rick waited until the last kid left and then got up and quietly shut the door.

“Daryl,” he began.

“Coach,” Daryl interrupted, “I know you’re gonna get on me about lunch. But it’s just temporary. Just until I can catch up with my brother and figure out where he’s stayin.”

Rick cocked his head to the side, “Does your brother normally pay for your lunch?”

There was a long beat as though Daryl were mulling something over, “Nah. I do a bit of side work when I can, just didn’t get a chance to this weekend with all the bullsh...craziness. But if I find him I can crash on his couch and get some work lined up.”

Rick’s eyes widened as alarm bells went off in his head, “Daryl, where have you been staying?”

The desk fell over in Daryl’s haste to get up, his backpack catching on the back of the chair, “I think I do have a couple of bucks on me. I’ll see what it’ll get me.” 

Rick put a hand up and stayed put in front of the classroom door. “Daryl Dixon, don’t you lie to me.”

Daryl bit his lip and turned back toward his desk and then paced back towards the front of the room, his movements quick and sharp. Rick would wait him out, his conscience wouldn’t let him allow this boy try and tackle homelessness on his own.

“The trailer park wasn’t hit that bad, but my place was taken out by a fuc...by a tree.”

“Where have you been staying?” Rick asked again.

Daryl stopped and stood up straight, “It’s only been a couple of nights. Pretty sure I’ve figured out where my brother is and I’ll go there tonight.”

“Mr. Dixon, you tell me right now where you slept the last two nights.” Rick’s teacher voice had never failed him. Maybe because it was actually his coach voice. 

Daryl walked away and looked out the window. “Out there.”

Rick went to the window and looked to where Daryl was staring, “You’ve been staying in the woods?”

“Ain’t like I haven’t done it before,” Daryl said with a shrug.

“Where’s your dad?” Rick asked.

Daryl shrugged again, “Dunno. Haven’t seen him since he gave me the shiner.”

Rick closed his eyes and pinched his nose, “What about social services? Hasn’t anyone found you a home?”

“I’m eighteen. Not a kid. Don’t need social services. Just need to find Merle and stay with him until school’s out and I can get a full time job.” Daryl said.

“What about baseball?”

Daryl turned to look at Rick, “What about it? I ain’t planning on giving it up. I bought the cleats and shit and paid for a whole season and I’m gonna play a whole season.”

“But your game will suffer if you’re planning on just sleeping on someone’s couch. And when will you find time for homework? And if your brother lives outside the district, that would raise all kinds of questions.”

Daryl shook his head and walked back to his desk and sat down, “You think I wasn’t sleepin’ on couches before now? I still got my homework done and showed up for practice.”

Rick decided to change tactics, “Why hasn’t your brother been looking for you?”

“Who says he hasn’t? It ain’t like I got a phone for him to call. And our damn trailer is smashed up.”

“If he had contacted the police…”

Daryl interrupted Rick by laughing louder than he had ever heard Daryl be, “You are out of your mind if you think my brother would talk to the cops.”

Rick put his hands on his hips and looked down at his feet in an attempt to calm his temper, “Not even to find his little brother?’

“He knows I can take care of myself.”

There was a knock at the door then and Rick realized they’d spent a good portion of the lunch break working on this issue. It was probably Shane though, wondering why the door was shut.

“We’re not done talking about this,” Rick said over his shoulder as he went to open the door.

Daryl just let out a loud breath and put his head down on the desk.

“Man, why’d you shut your door?” Shane asked as he pushed past Rick.

Rick nodded at Daryl’s resting form, “Needed a minute.”

Understanding bloomed across Shane’s face. “Let’s go to my room then?”

Standing back from the door, Rick gestured for Shane to go ahead of him. He put his finger to his lip when it looked like Shane was going to talk. No sense letting the boy overhear the conversation.

“He’s lost his home,” Rick said without preamble when they got to Shane’s room.

“Lost it? How?”

Rick ran a hand through his hair, probably should get it cut soon, the curls were wrapping all the way around his fingers now, “Tree fell on it. Rest of the trailer park was fine, but he lost pretty much so everything. He hasn’t seen his dad since before the storm and he’s been looking for his brother so he can stay with him.”

Shane tilted his head and gave Rick a hard stare, “You mean to tell me he’s homeless? Our star pitcher, the guy who’s gonna take us to state, is homeless?”

Rick put his hands up in defeat, there really wasn’t much he could say.

“Why can’t he find his brother?” Shane asked.

“Don’t know. Didn’t get that far. Said he would be sleeping on his brother’s couch if he found him.That doesn’t sound ideal in the least bit. I asked him if he’d reached out to any services, but he doesn’t seem inclined.” Rick said.

“Inclined? Where the hell has he slept the last two nights?” Shane asked incredulously.

Rick gestured to Shane’s open window, “The woods. Says it ain’t the first time.” 

Shane threw his hands up dramatically and paced the floor, “Holy mother of… Rick. He can’t sleep in the woods. He can’t go to sleep on his brother’s couch. He has to have a decent place to live. Has to get regular meals, has to get cleaned up….”

Rick put a hand in the middle of Shane’s chest to stop him, “Shane! I know.” 

“How are we are going to fix this. He’s eighteen, so CPS isn’t going to do anything. He’s got nobody to help him.”

“Now you know that ain’t true, Shane. We can check with social services and see what they can do for him,” Rick said with a slow shake of his head. “Get him a bed somewhere, maybe set him up with an apartment and get some clothes and food.”

Shane rolled his eyes and looked up and blew out a breath, “Fine, social services can help him. But how long is that going to take? Are they gonna make sure he can get to baseball practice and the games?” Shane put his hands on his hips, “Hell, do you even think he’d  _ stay _ ? This is Daryl Dixon we’re talking about.” 

Rick looked out the window, wondering how Daryl had gotten on for the last two days, hating himself for not even looking for Daryl or trying to track him down. It was unforgivable on his part. Daryl may present himself as self sufficient and above needing help from anyone, but he was still a kid. Rick was still responsible as a teacher and as a coach. 

Shane pursed his lips and continued to pace. Rick stole a glance at the clock by the door, lunch would be over in five minutes, he had to get back to his classroom. And, fuck, he hadn’t called the insurance company. “Listen, we can try and talk to him tonight. See if we can help him get a lead on this brother of his…”

“Don’t like it. If his brother is so great, he’da been there already.” 

“I know, but I don’t think the kid has much of a family. Hell, I’ve never even met his dad and Glenn told me once that Daryl’s mama died in a fire when he was six.” Rick looked up as the bell rang, “I gotta get back to my class. We can talk about this after school.”

Shane stopped his pacing and looked Rick hard in they eye, “We don’t need to discuss it anymore. He’s gonna come stay with me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, Lori's a bitch. But hey, Shane is cool!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to 1Lostone and TWDObsessive for the beta. Ya'll are the best. 
> 
> And as always, this is for my very good friend TWDObsessive. <3

“That is a  _ terrible  _ idea.” Rick said with as much vehemence as he could muster.

Shane shook his head and gave Rick his best ‘trust me’ look, “It’s a great idea! Just think, I can take him back and forth to school and practice and we know he’ll still be in the district and….”

Rick put one hand on his hip and one out in front of him as though he were holding Shane back, “No! Damn Shane, you’ve got a different girl over every other week. What kind of impression would that make on the kid?”

Shane put his own hand up to forestall any more objections, “I can cut back or go to their house. And hell, it’ll only be until the end of school and the season. Six weeks - tops.”

“Daryl hates charity, he won’t see this any other way,” Rick stated with certainty. 

“Already got that figured out,” Shane said as he headed for his classroom door, dodging students on his way.

“Class is starting!” Rick called after him.

Shane either didn’t hear or didn’t care. He was making a beeline for Rick’s classroom. 

Rick hurried after him and just caught up with him as Shane was pushing past Karen to get to Rick’s classroom. Rick sent up a silent prayer that Shane wouldn’t say anything to Daryl in front of half the class.

But Shane didn’t address Daryl when they got into Rick’s room. No, he turned to Rick and with the oddest look on his face, said, “Rick, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I need a roommate at my condo. I’ve got that big bedroom with it’s and another bathroom just sitting empty.”

“Shane...” Rick tried to get him to stop. Daryl wasn’t stupid.

“Just for a few weeks. I’m not there very often and I need someone to...uh...water my plants. I got that one that needs watered every morning at 6 a.m. on the dot.”

Rick squeezed his eyes shut, “Mr. Walsh….”

“Course they’d have to pay rent, not doing charity,” Shane went on.

The bell blessedly rang just then prompting Shane to give Rick a jaunty salute and leave, whistling tunelessly as he went.

Rick didn’t have the courage to look at Daryl. One thing he knew was that even though Daryl tried to stay off on the sidelines, he was well aware of what was going on around him. And there was no way that he couldn’t put two and two together and come up with Shane being a transparent dumbass.

He would however, have a talk with the boy during or after practice. Rick could not, and would not, leave the boy to fend for himself another night in the woods. They’d either track down this missing brother, or heaven help him, get him set up at Shane’s place.

\---

Rick had arranged for practice to be in the gym. It wasn’t ideal, but the field was definitely out of commision for the rest of the season and he hadn’t been able to secure a place on such short notice. Reg over at Alexandria had suggested that Rick call the park board and see if there were any ballfields open at the parks. It was a good idea, but a lot of the little league teams used them, so there would still be a scheduling problem.

This evenings practice would be short. Mostly just let the guys get together and talk about what happened. It would be good to let them talk about their fears in a controlled environment with Rick and Shane and a couple of the moms there.  

“Listen up guys!” Shane hollered out when they were all there.

Rick nodded his appreciation and then addressed the boys, “I’m glad you all are here and safe…”

“Glad  _ you’re  _ here, Coach!” Glenn called out from the back of the group of boys. A cheer rose up around the gym, Shane and the moms joining in with the boys.

Rick held up a hand to try and calm them all down. All he had done was hide under a desk with Daryl for two hours. But then he remembered that no one but Shane knew about Daryl. Rick’s eyes darted over to the pitcher, but Daryl wasn’t looking at Rick. He was studying his feet and biting his lips. Rick had a flash of  _ Bang! Coach! _ before tamping that memory down hard. 

“All right, all right! No need to get all worked up because I managed to remember what I learned in kindergarten about tornadoes. Now, as I was saying…” Rick waited for the room to quiet before going on, “I’m glad we are all here and safe. The rest of the season is going to be a challenge with not having our field available to us. We’ve got the gym tonight, but we won’t have it next week. I’ve talked to a couple of the coaches around the district and I think we can work out a schedule. Be prepared for practice to be at weird times. We might have to catch a couple of hours early in the morning on a Saturday or have to wait until after seven on a weeknight. All of our games are being rescheduled to be away games. So we won’t have the home field advantage, but I think I can convince the principal to set up busses to bus anyone who wants to go to a game. We still have to play Grady tomorrow and Woodbury next week.” Rick paused for the groans, “but we have a good chance of beating them. Grady just had a big shake up in their coaching and Woodbury’s bullpen is full of freshman and their pitchers ain’t near as good as ours.” A cheer went up at that.

“Today, we’re gonna do calisthenics and practice throwing the ball and having it go where you want it to go, not just in the general direction. Coach Walsh will set you up for that, except for the pitchers, ya’ll will come with me. Any questions?”

“What about the uniforms? Weren’t they in the fieldhouse?” one of the moms asked.

Jessie perked up at that, “No! They are all at my house. I took them to wash them. I don’t have their helmets and caps though.”

“No need to worry about the helmets, we can use the ones that’re in the gym that they use for P.E. classes.” Shane said, hooking a thumb over his shoulder towards the storage room.

Glenn pulled his cap off his head and waved it around, “I always have mine with me.”

Rick chuckled along with the rest of the group. “Anyone else still got their caps?” Several of the boys held up their hands. “Great! Coach Walsh and I will scavenge around and see if we can find some more. I know I’ve got a couple at my house.”

“I’ve got a couple extra too,” said Jessie.

After a few minutes of discussion it turned out they would probably have enough caps for all of the boys to wear during the game. Cleats wouldn’t be a problem though, for some reason, all of the boys had taken theirs home that night.

Shane whistled loudly in the room to get everyone’s attention. “Alright. If there aren’t any more issues, let’s get going. Line up and let’s warm up.”

Rick wasn’t the kind of coach that would walk around and critique the team’s form, barking out corrections and drinking a Coke while the boys sweated. No, he’d be at the front and work out just as much as they did. One of his coaches he’d had as a kid never worked out with his team and had sported quite a gut. But what had really stuck with Rick was how the guy had keeled over and died in the middle of yelling at an ump during a game. At the time Rick had thought the coach was just old, but now that Rick was an adult he realized that the man dying from a heart attack at forty three on a baseball field wasn’t normal.

He did keep a close eye on Daryl though. Rick wasn’t sure when the kid had eaten last, certainly not at lunch today. Maybe he could convince Lori to feed him tonight. Although, she hated last minute dinner guests, no matter their circumstances. Maybe it would be better not to subject Daryl to her cooking.

There was an ulterior motive to Rick taking the pitchers aside, he was hoping to have time to covertly talk to Daryl about staying with Shane. Rick had been thinking about it all day and staying with Shane would work. It was unusual, but as Daryl was technically an adult, there wasn’t anything  _ wrong  _ with it. But they didn’t need to bandy it about either. That’s if Rick could convince Daryl to do it.

He pulled their senior catcher, Aaron, to catch for Daryl, Jimmy, and Ron. A good pitcher wasn’t nothing without a good catcher. And Aaron was probably one of the best catchers that Rick had ever seen. He was going to go to a big ten college next year and maybe on to a career in the majors.

“Okay, guys. You all have your specialty, but that won’t cut it when we go to a school that can study your habits and then teach the hitters what to expect. So, I’m going to have ya’ll teach each other your favorite pitch. Daryl, you throw a wicked fastball, probably because of those broad shoulders, but I think Jimmy can teach you his change up. And Ron can teach you both his slider. Daryl you start.”

Rick ignored the wide eyed fear that flashed in Daryl’s eyes and instead busied himself getting Aaron set-up.

“Just show them how you hold the ball and then throw a few for them,” Rick encouraged when he saw the boys just standing there. 

The first pitch rocked Aaron off his feet, “Sorry coach. I’m used to him warming up a bit first,” he said sheepishly, standing up to throw the ball back to Daryl.

Rick chuckled, “Yeah, he can catch you off guard.” His mind flashed to the fieldhouse two days ago again. ( _ Bang! Coach!) _

Stuffing that thought away again, Rick looked around the room to see how the rest of the team were doing. Most of the younger boys were still throwing fairly wildly, even if most of them had played ball since they were five. They weren’t playing for a participation trophy anymore though, and needed to get focused and get their head in the game. This year marked only the second year that he’d coached a set of kids from freshman to seniors and one of the things Rick found that he liked about coaching was supervising the progression from untested kid to seasoned player. 

He watched Daryl show Jimmy and Ron the grip for his fastball and then how he pulled his arm all the way back and put his whole body into the throw. Rick was going to have to keep an eye on that. Daryl could very easily injure his arm if he didn’t take care of it. He made note to see if Daryl would need to be iced down in the future. 

The boys threw several balls, Jimmy seemed to catch on quicker, as the motion was the same for changeup as it was for the fastball, just following through with the heat was different. Ron just didn’t have the upper body strength yet to really throw hard, but he had the throw right. They could work on that.

Jimmy was next, showing them the change up. The look of astonishment on Daryl’s face when Jimmy explained, “You just pretend to throw a fastball. They can’t even tell until it’s too late,” was priceless. 

Daryl threw a few that would still be considered fastballs before he figured out exactly where to let go of the ball and then it was perfect. Even Aaron said he couldn’t tell until it hit his glove that it wasn’t a fastball. Rick hoped to hell that Daryl would remember that for the game with Woodbury. 

The slider was Daryl’s downfall. It was just too different from what he’d always thrown, Rick could see frustration all over his face. Ron tried showing Daryl how to do it again, but Rick could tell that Daryl was understanding the follow through, just not how to hold the ball. 

“Daryl, listen. Your fingers have to stay on top of the ball as you pitch it,” Rick explained as he positioned Daryl’s fingers on the ball. “Just get your dot on the ball and follow through. Don’t come around the ball, just make sure your fingers sit on top of the ball.”

Daryl blew a hard breath that caused his bangs to flutter around his eyes, but he tried again. It was better, but Daryl would still need some practice. Rick was just glad they were able to add the changeup. He couldn’t wait to see Blake’s face the first time Daryl threw that in the game against Woodbury.

Rick stepped back away from the pitcher to look around the gym again. Most of the boys were milling around instead of throwing balls, Shane was talking to one of the boys and making throw motions with a ball, and all the moms were chatting in the bleachers. He was surprised to notice that they’d been there for two hours already. Practice should be over.

“All right gang. Good practice tonight. We’ll meet up in uniform in the parking lot tomorrow at four. Check with miss Jessie before you leave about your uniform. Now, hit the showers!”

“Coach?”

Rick turned back to his star pitcher, “Yeah, Daryl?” 

Daryl bit his lip and rolled the ball around in his hand for a moment, his eyes on the boys headed for the shower. Rick was pretty sure Daryl would wait them out like he always did. “Do you think you could show me that slider pitch again?”

“Our catcher is headed for the shower.”

“Just uh, just the fingering? It’s different than the fastball. I ain’t never seen it before.”

“Haven’t ever,” Rick automatically corrected. 

Daryl rolled his eyes and held out the ball. Rick took it from him and placed his fingers on the ball for a slider.

As he went through the motion of throwing he explained, “It’s important to keep your fingers on top of the ball so the spin is right. You let go on your index finger instead of your middle finger, like this..”

Daryl watched intently as Rick showed him the movement a couple of more times. 

“You try,” Rick said as he handed Daryl the ball.

Probably without even noticing, Daryl immediately gripped the ball as though he were going to throw a fastball. Laughing, Rick grabbed Daryl’s hand to reposition his fingers, just like he’d done a million times with other pitchers. But something was different. 

Daryl’s grip loosened on the ball so much he almost dropped it and his breath sped up. Rick darted his eyes to Daryl’s face to see if he was distressed, but it wasn’t distress staring back at him. Rick swallowed and let go of Daryl’s hand. 

“I think maybe Ron can show you better,” he said as he took two steps back, intensely aware of the how intimate their closeness was.

Daryl shook his head without taking his eyes off Rick, “I don’t think so. He hasn’t taken his baseball team to state and he didn’t play college ball.”

Rick looked away, he couldn’t meet the boy’s eyes any longer, “Where are you staying tonight?”

“Is that an invitation?”

Rick was so shocked with Daryl’s blatant come on, it took him a minute to answer. He could  _ feel  _ the redness crawl up from his neck and spread across his face, he hadn’t meant for the question to sound like that. “No. And you know it. I just want to make sure you get a good night’s sleep and are ready for Woodbury tomorrow. Did you get hold of your brother?”

It was Daryl’s turn for his face to turn red, “I think he’s locked up in county.”

“Well then Daryl Dixon, we have to find you a place to sleep tonight.” Rick didn’t get any further than that because a rush of boys came out of the locker room, boisterous and loud. When he turned his head back, Daryl was gone, the exit door slamming shut in his wake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the words of 1Lostone "DAMN GO, DARYL! :D"
> 
> And now Daryl is taking advantage of having his _#1 Crush_ in his grasp and he's not going to squander the opportunity.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Games are played, things happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to the ever wonderful 1Lostone and TWDObsessive for betaing for me. This chapter had significant revisions since the beta, so just pretend you don't see any errors. Or send me a DM. ;)
> 
> And again, this is for my very good friend TWDObsessive. Who doesn't know what prosciutto is, which is sad.

“Shit,” Rick swore under his breath as he took off for the door, he needed to have that conversation with Daryl. But he also needed to know the kid wasn’t going to sleep in the damn woods again.  

He could just see Daryl on the other side of the parking lot, head down and walking with long strides, headed for the woods. Rick again was thankful he kept in shape as he sprinted after the boy. He knew there was no way he’d be able to track Daryl if he made it into the woods, he always got lost in the woods. 

Not bothering to give himself away by hollering, he ran across the lot and caught up with Daryl just as he was stepping into the grass. Daryl turned and saw it was Rick and tried to sidestep and get into the trees, but it was too late, Rick caught his arm before he could escape into the woods.

“Don’t,” Daryl said, standing perfectly still, his whole body leaning away from Rick. 

Rick tilted his head to the side, “I can’t let you do it Daryl. You cannot spend another night in these woods.”

“Done told you, I done it before,” Daryl huffed out, eyes looking anywhere but at Rick.

“Well, I didn’t know then, but I do now. And there is no way in hell I’m letting you go.”

Daryl tugged his arm harshly out of Rick’s hand, “Where the fuck am I gonna stay then? Ain’t nowhere for me to go.”

“Language,” Rick said automatically.

“Oh give it up! It’s after hours and we ain’t even on school grounds anymore. I ain’t a damn kid that you gotta wash their mouth out with soap,” Daryl said angrily.

Rick gave a short nod of his head, “Fine. You’re not a kid. Doesn’t matter, I wouldn’t let anyone I care about sleep in the woods if they didn’t have to. Now Shane has offered you a room at his place,” Daryl finally turned to Rick, his eyes nearly squinted shut from the force of his glare. Rick put up a hand to forestall the protest that he knew was coming, “I know you don’t accept charity. You can help Shane out around his condo and pay some rent. Just long enough for you to find a place of your own. Okay?”

Just then he felt his phone buzz in his pants. He knew it was Lori, she’d tried calling twice already tonight, but she knew he was at practice and would call her back when he was done. He would catch hell if he didn’t answer this time though.

“Yeah, Lori,” he answered.

“Rick? Where are you?” She asked.

Rick pinched his nose, she knew damn well where he was. “I’m just finishing up practice,” he said as he kept a tight watch on Daryl.

“You’re going to be late for church!”

“Lori, I told you I can’t go to church on Wednesday’s because of ball practice,” he said patiently.

“What will the pastor say?!” She cried.

Rick closed his eyes, he was starting to suspect Lori was more about appearances than religion, “He’ll say, ‘Beat Grady tomorrow!’.”

“Not funny, Rick. I wanted you to come because I’m staying late to help with the food drive for those affected by the tornado. And Carl is going to need someone to watch him.”

Rick motioned his head back toward the parking lot, hoping Daryl would get the hint to follow him back to the gym, “Lori, there will be fifty women there, surely someone can keep an eye on him. Or just give him a ball and a corner. That usually entertains him for hours.”

Lori hissed into the phone, “I will not be one of those mothers that lets their kids just run around like a wild child.”

“I understand that,” Rick truly did, he wasn’t sure Carl was out of an adult’s line of sight for the first three years of his life. “But I don’t have a vehicle and I’m relying on Shane to take me back and forth for the time being.”

“Did you at least call the insurance company today?”

Shit, shit, shit, “No, I had,” he looked back to see Daryl following him sullenly, “something come up at lunch that I had to take care of.”

“Of course, Rick. There’s always something more important. Don’t worry about Carl, I’ll figure it out. I will talk to you tomorrow.”

Damn. ‘I will talk to you tomorrow’ was code for ‘you’re sleeping on the couch’.

“Night Lori. Love you.” But the phone was already dead. 

It was shaping up to be a rough weekend. Rick wouldn’t have time to talk to her tomorrow until after the game, and she usually didn’t like having talks after eight when Carl went to bed. 

“She sounded pissed,” Daryl said.

Rick didn’t acknowledge the statement. “Let’s see if we can find Coach Walsh. He’s both our rides.”

“Fine by me,” Daryl said as he walked around Rick and went into the now mostly deserted gym.

\---

“Listen, it’s only temporary. Just until you can find a place of your own. And you don’t even need to worry about that until after you graduate. Coach Grimes has told me you work a bit on the side, but not what. Can you tell me, so I don’t have to worry about ya?” Shane said as they drove in the falling dusk towards Shane’s condo.

Daryl smirked from where he sat in the back seat of the Camaro, bent nearly in half to fit, “Workin’ on the corner.”

Shane glared at him in the mirror, “Not funny, Mr. Dixon.”

Daryl glared right back, “I change tires or oil, or do a tune up. Basic maintenance on cars. Sometimes bang a fender back in place. Don’t have a fancy garage to work out of, just got a tool box.”

“Wish I would have known that a year or two ago when Shane and I were trying to figure out how to change the brake lines on the truck last year,” Rick said with a rueful shake of his head. ”Could’a used your help.”

“Sorry ‘bout your truck,” Daryl replied, his face soft as he met Rick’s eyes in the mirror, “I know it meant a lot to you.”

Rick shrugged a shoulder and went back to looking out the window. They’d already stopped at the trailer park where Daryl had lived. The manager had let Daryl keep what he had salvaged locked up in the back of the laundry facilities. Mostly it was some of Daryl’s clothes and his tool box. He didn’t seem to have a lot of personal items.

“So, I have the extra room set up as an office right now, but I can move all that stuff downstairs,” Shane cut into the silence, “You’ll have to sleep on the couch tonight and maybe tomorrow, but then we can go over to my mom’s and pick up my old bed.”

A strange mix of emotions spread across Daryl’s face, “I can sleep on the couch. Was gonna at Merle’s place. Don’t need to move furniture on my account.”

Shane shook his head, “Nothing doing. My mom’s been storing my bed in her basement for  ‘bout ten years. It’s just sitting there gathering dust. And it’s just a little twin, I bet we can fit it in the back of the Camaro, easy.”

Rick couldn’t help but guffaw at that and he was happy to see that Daryl was hiding a smile behind his hand.

“What? The back seats lay down! There’s plenty of room!” Shane said with mock indignation.

“I’m sure it will, Coach,” Daryl indulged him.

Shane looked at them both with a wounded expression before turning to look back out the windshield, “Ya’ll just hush.”

Rick laughed so hard at that he almost forgot that he’d be sleeping on the couch tonight too. He just hoped he wouldn’t have to for any longer than that.

\---

Rick had woken the next morning with a crick in his neck. He’d had a hard time getting to sleep, thoughts of the conversation he knew he would have to have with Lori filling his mind up. She’d come home from the church and gotten Carl and herself ready for bed and barely spoken two words to Rick, saying she was too tired to talk and looking pointedly at the couch when Rick tried to smooth things over. 

Shane had driven Rick home, leaving Daryl at Shane’s. “Let him get used to the place without worrying about someone else being there,” Shane had reasoned. It sounded like a good idea to Rick. Daryl had already looked like a whipped puppy locked in a cage when they got there.

The next two games had been scheduled away games, so the team only had to find places to practice. The gym was good, but it wasn’t good for batting practice. Luckily Reg and Deanna had let them use Alexandria’s auxiliary field for the time. No one mentioned anything about Coach Walsh ferrying Daryl and Rick with him.

They’d eeked out a win at Grady, Jimmy and Ron keeping the other team to only two RBIs. Daryl had to sit out the game because of the rules about how many pitches a kid could do before they had to sit out. 

But the game with Woodbury had not gone well. Not at all. The one bright spot had been when a student that had transferred over to Woodbury from King High School had sauntered over. 

“Hey, Coach!” 

Rick smiled at the confident blonde. Andrea Harrison was a brilliant student and was going  to law school as soon as she finished high school, he’d been sad to see her leave King County. “Hey Andrea. How do you like your new school?”

She smiled and leaned her hip on the rail above the dugout, her hair was pulled back into a high ponytail and she was wearing a short sleeve button up and a pair of Daisy Dukes, “I like it. Not the same as King County, but I get a lot of respect from the teachers.”   


“Andrea!” Glenn shouted from behind Rick, having just dropped off his stuff. Andrea was familiar to the whole team, she’d hung around a lot and probably would have played if given the chance. 

“Glenn! How are you?” She said warmly, her smile never wavering.

Glenn grinned widely, “Great! Did you see that we have a winning season so far?”

She snorted, “Only been three games.”

Daryl snorted from where he was sitting at the end of the dug out, “We only play ten.”

Glenn shot him a look, “That’s only if we don’t go to the playoffs. There’s a lot more if we keep winning.”

Daryl nodded his head absently, his mind back to his glove that he was carefully oiling. 

“So,” Andrea said into the silence, her gaze roaming the field, “is Coach Walsh around?”

Rick shook his head and put his hands on his hips, “He’s busy getting the guys warmed up.” He looked back at Daryl and then over to Glenn meaningfully, “Everybody should be out there.”

Glenn grimaced, “Sorry, Coach.”

“Don’t be sorry, get out there before I have the two of you running extra laps.” He turned to Andrea, “Sorry, I’d love to catch up, but game’s gonna be starting in a bit and we gotta be ready.”

Andrea sighed and rolled her eyes, “Well, good luck. You’re gonna need it.” And with the same saunter she walked up with, she walked away. Not even a backwards glance. 

Rick shook his head and headed out to the field to help Shane and the boys warm up. She was right, they would need all the luck they could get. 

Putting Jimmy in first had not been Rick’s brightest idea. Poor Aaron had to run after the ball more than the shortstop. They’d pulled him after the third inning, but Daryl hadn’t fared much better. His pitches were true, but the Woodbury batters weren’t intimidated.

Woodbury’s pitcher, Caesar Martinez, made Daryl and Jimmy look like little leaguers. Not only was he more filled out (the kid even sported a five o’clock shadow), but he threw like a big leaguer too. Watching all the bases, and then  _ wiff,  _ throwing a fastball or a curveball. And didn’t that boil Rick’s blood. High School kids should not be throwing that kind of heat, too much of a chance of them throwing their elbow out, and definitely not at a hitter’s head. But Blake was such an asshat that he wouldn’t care. He’d just buy another kid. Not that Rick could prove any of that.

“Ice cream for everyone!” Shane called out in the dugout after the game.

Daryl caught Rick’s eye, “I thought we only go ice cream when we won?”

“If that were true, we wouldn’t have gotten ice cream at all the first year we coached,” Rick answered.

Smiling his shy smile, Daryl grabbed up his gear and borrowed ball cap and headed for the bus. Following Daryl after a moment Rick realized he would have to give a pep talk on the way back to the school. He wasn’t one for beating up the guys when it was obvious they were out played. He blamed himself more than the team. But they were going to be feeling pretty low. And they were really going to hate having to run an extra twenty laps. All those bad pitches, dropped balls, and strikeouts meant the boys had to run a lap for each error or lost run. 

The bus was driven by a guy named Theodore Douglas, but the kids all called him T-Dog. He was a good role model for the kids and they all looked up to him. He’d gone to college on a football scholarship, but hadn’t got called up. Rick knew he had another job, but wasn’t sure what. Whatever it was it gave T-dog freedom to drive the bus and Rick always requested him. He also went to Rick’s church and drove for vacation bible school and whenever the church had to bus the kids for an event like the yearly trip to Six Flags.

“Good game, Coach,” he said to Rick.

Shaking his head as he climbed into the bus, Rick said, “It wasn’t. We got our asses handed to us. Ten to nothin’.”

T-dog smiled, “You’ll get ‘em in the playoffs. Ya’ll got a good chance this year.”

Rick clapped T-dog on the shoulder appreciatively, they guy was always looking on the bright side.

He got comfortable at the front of the bus, leaning his hip on the first seat and looking back at the boys as T-dog carefully pulled out of the parking lot, “Alright everyone. I know that wasn’t our best game,” he waited for the groans to die down, “I take the blame for that one. We weren’t prepared. I should have looked into that pitcher he’s got.”

Glenn raised his hand from the back of the bus, “Coach, we had a tornado. A tornado that tore up our field. We missed two days of practice. You lost your truck!”

Several of the boys loudly agreed, as did T-dog and Shane.

Rick held up a hand for silence, “Okay, I’ll give you that. We didn’t have time to practice. But I should have learned about that pitcher. At least give us some warning on him. We’ll be ready for him next time. I haven’t pitched a curveball in a while, but I’ll dust it off so ya’ll can have another swing at it. Shane will help coach you on hitting it.”

Daryl raised his hand, “You can show me how to throw it.”

“Absolutely not. That Woodbury kid shouldn’t even be throwing it. Guys in the majors tear up their elbows throwing it,” Shane said fiercely from his seat in the front of the bus. “Coach Grimes shouldn’t even do it.”

Rick gave Shane his best stink eye, but Shane wouldn’t be budged, just crossed his arms and glared back. “I’ll throw easy. It’s just so the guys can see how the ball travels...okay?”

“Fine,” Shane huffed. They’d had this argument before, and Shane had good cause to not want the pitch to be used. When he and Rick had been playing in college, they’d witnessed an opposing pitcher collapse on the mound screaming in pain after throwing a curveball. Shane had been traumatized and begged Rick to never throw it again. Rick had only promised not to use it unless he had to. 

“Next week is Hilltop and we’ve got a good chance of beating them. Their coach is more concerned with keeping the parents happy than pushing fundamentals. If we get up by a few runs early, they’ll crumble. Their pitcher is crafty though. Saw him throw last year. Never throws the same ball twice in a row. But he’s too smart for his own good.”

Rick paused for reaction, but the boys still looked disheartened from their loss. “Hey, guys. We just weren’t prepared. We’re gonna get another chance in the playoffs. I’m not gonna let that asshat beat us again!”

Luckily the foul language had the desired effect and the boys roared with laughter. It was a good thing Lori wasn’t on the bus or Rick would have caught hell for sure, not that anyone else cared, cussing was just part of baseball.

By the time they got to the Dairy Queen the boys had lightened up considerably. Even Daryl was smiling, he’d even come up with money to buy his own ice cream this time. Rick watched him for a while. Daryl still mostly hung out with Glenn, but Jimmy and Aaron were at the same table with the two. It made sense that the pitchers and the catcher hung out. Rick would have to see about getting Daryl to take more of a leadership role. He had it in him.

He swore under his breathe as his phone rang, he knew before he looked it would be Lori. “Hey Lori.”

“Rick? Are you on your way?” She asked.

“Just about done at DQ. Then Shane’ll bring me home,” he answered.

“Did you call about the insurance?” 

Rick squeezed his eyes shut and pinched his nose, “No, I forgot again.”

There was a long pause on the other end of the line where Rick could  _ feel _ the temperature drop. 

“I think we need to talk when you get home. I’m not sure this is working anymore.” She didn’t even wait for Rick to reply, just hung up.

Rick’s eyes unfocused as pain blossomed in his stomach like he’d been punched. He sat down heavily in the chair behind him, his breath coming in short gasps. He could just barely hear the sounds of the team around him, unaware of Rick’s dilemma. 

He blinked hard and exhaled deeply. When his vision cleared he looked around to make sure no one had noticed. It looked like he was safe. Until his eyes caught on Daryl, and the way Daryl was staring a hole into Rick, he knew that Daryl had been watching the whole time. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh yay! Daryl is moving in with Shane! But what's up with Lori and Rick? 
> 
> Also, I'm loving your comments. They make me happy. :)


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Showdown with Lori and Daryl grows bolder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I'm going to say thank you every chapter to 1Lostone and TWDObsessive. They deserve all the accolades I can heap on them. 
> 
> Also thanks to KatytheInspiredWorkaholic for checking last minute stuff for me. She's the best.
> 
> And if you've forgotten, this is a gift for my friend TWDObsessive, because I heart her to the moon and back.
> 
> I fiddled with this even after putting it on (in?) AO3, so any mistakes are mine.

She was waiting at the kitchen table for him, a mug of coffee clutched tightly between her hands. He wasn’t sure where Carl was, but it was a good bet he wasn’t home. Which meant Lori didn’t want Carl to see how this was going to shake out.

He took a deep breath and forged on, she probably just needed to get some of her anger out. 

“Lori, whatever you’re thinking, stop,” he begged.

She shook her head without raising her eyes from where they stared into the cup, “No. I can’t. All I think about is how you aren’t here.”

Rick sat down across from her, putting his hand on the table, palm up in hopes that she would take it. “I am here. Right now, in front of you.”

She turned away, still clutching her cup, “A few hours at night? And even then you’re grading papers or working on something to do with baseball. It’s like I’m competing with all those kids for your time.”

He pulled his hand back and sat up straighter, “I’m a teacher and a coach, Lori. It’s what I do.”

“I’d just like to see you more. Be with you.”

“Then come to the games! Show some support for what I do.”

She looked up sharply from her coffee, “I can’t! I have to take care of Carl. Because you sure as hell aren’t going to.”

“Do  _ not  _ imply that I don’t care about Carl.” He stood up and pushed the chair back in, “You know damn good and well that you can bring him to the games, or hell, even the practices. And it’s only for a few months out of the year. Why is it such a big issue?”

“Because he plays  _ soccer _ Rick, not baseball.”

Rick gripped the back of the chair in front of him, “He can play soccer all damn year, baseball is only in the spring. Why can’t he do both? And why can’t he come to my games? And why is this even an issue? You never discussed it with me before you signed him up for soccer.”

Lori took a deep breath and went back to looking at her coffee like it had the answers, “It’s not about whether Carl plays soccer or baseball. It’s about you not being committed to this family.”

He closed his eyes and tilted his head, fingers pinching the bridge of his nose,  “I come home as soon as I can every night. I don’t hang out with my friends, I go to church on Sunday with you. I do what I have to for school and the team and then I am home. What more do you want?”

“Why haven’t you called about getting the insurance money for your truck? We’re down to one vehicle now! How long are you planning on hitching a ride with Shane?”

“I lost my truck ten days ago Lori. Ten days. And you never even asked if  _ I _ was okay. I was under a damn desk for two hours. And fucking Grady and Woodbury wouldn’t reschedule their games, so I had to scramble to get in some practice and get the boys outfitted for the game.”

Lori stood up and put her hands over her eyes, “You know, when we were in school, I put up with all of the baseball talk because I thought you were going to go somewhere with it. I didn’t know you would be content with being a high school coach in a podunk town on the outskirts of Atlanta.”

Rick stared at his wife in disbelief. All of the breath had gone from his lungs. “You thought I should have gone to the Majors?”

“Well, with the way that they talked about you in the papers and how well you pitched, it’s what I expected,” she said, still not looking at Rick.

“But I told you from the beginning, I wanted to be a teacher. Baseball just paid my way through college.”

Lori let her hands fall away from her face and looked at Rick, “I sacrificed for you! You had a chance at being somebody! And look at you! Worried about a damn truck that’s older than our son and spending all your time with a bunch of kids that will be lucky if they get a job in a factory!”

“What do you want me to do Lori? Quit my job? Stop coaching? How are we going to survive if I don’t have a job?”

She turned to the sink and looked out the window, “I don’t want you to do anything. Except maybe find somewhere else to live.”

Rick staggered back against the wall, “Are you telling me you don’t want to be married anymore?”

Lori wiped a tear from her eye, “No. Maybe. I think we need some time apart. I need time to think. And you do too.”

Rick’s anger finally got the better of him, “No. I don’t. I’ll sleep on the couch tonight and then tomorrow I’ll go to Shane’s. And when you figure out your shit Lori, you can call me. But don’t expect me to change for you. I told you years ago that  _ this  _ was my dream. Maybe you need to figure yours out, but  _ I _ don’t.”

\---

“Ah man, Rick. That’s tough. Of course you can stay with me,” Shane said the next day at lunch. “I mean, you can go downstairs. I don’t need an office.”

“Are you sure? You got Daryl there now, too.”

“He’s been quiet as a church mouse. Doesn’t even want to watch tv,” Shane said with a wave of his hand. 

Rick really should have put more thought into his announcement to Lori last night. A few nights on the couch and then having a meeting with their pastor would probably have sorted things out. But he just kept going over what she had said about him not going to the Majors. That had never been his plan and frankly, it surprised him that Lori seemed to resent him for it. 

He’d always wanted to be a teacher, and yeah he was good at baseball, but he felt compelled to teach. Wanted to help develop young men and women, wanted to help guide them through life. He had actually cried the first time he’d attended a graduation as a teacher. To know that he’d been involved in the education of a child, and then see that child go on to graduate was a humbling experience for Rick. He still got teary eyed every spring when he watched those kids walk across the stage, smiles of accomplishment shining brilliantly on their faces. 

And Lori didn’t get that. Didn’t understand his passion for teaching. To see a face light up with understanding was one of the best feelings in the world. All she thought about was appearances. She wanted to be the wife of someone that millions of people looked up to, not someone that might only have a few grateful students over the course of a career.

“Listen,” Shane cut into Rick’s musings, “you can go with me and Daryl to mom’s house to pick up the mattress and stuff. And then we’ll get you set up on the couch. We can go this weekend and find a futon or something, then we'll have an awesome bachelor pad!”

Rick smiled at Shane, “I’m hoping this will all blow over in a couple of days. Lori just got overwhelmed this year. It’s the first year Carl has played soccer and I’ve had baseball season at the same time.”

They both looked up as the bell rang.

“Whatever, man. Mi casa, su casa. See you after school,” Shane said as he left Rick’s classroom with a wave of his hand. 

Rick nodded absently and watched his class file back in from lunch. He’d been too upset to eat himself, so had taken the time to call the insurance company before Shane had stopped by. It was a small company, so Rick hadn’t gotten stuck in phone tree hell trying to talk to someone. 

They gave him some shit about not even knowing where the truck was for an inspection, but conceded that if Rick could find some pictures, they would take that as proof. Hell, pictures wouldn’t be hard, his truck on it’s roof had been on the front page of the paper the next day.

Lori had texted him that she was going to be out visiting her mother that afternoon, so Rick was planning on going over to the house and picking up his toiletries and enough clothes for the next week. He wasn’t lying to Shane, he really did expect this to blow over in the next few days. Lori tended to go overboard when she felt out of control.

Daryl hadn’t even acknowledge Rick other than raising his hand when Rick did the roll call. And no one said anything when Rick left off the ‘winning pitcher’ part. Daryl had spent the rest of class staring out the window until lunch rolled around and then he bolted out of his seat as soon as the bell rang. When he came back he went right back to detaching himself from class as much as possible by focusing all of his attention out of the window. Sure that the boy had a lot on his mind, Rick had left him alone. 

When class was over, Daryl was the last to leave. Not unusual, but today he stopped at Rick’s desk and rubbed his fingers over the laminated wood as though he were trying to say something. Rick tilted his head and waited.

“Thanks for telling Coach Walsh to let me stay with him,” he finally said.

Rick shook his head, “Wasn’t on me. Shane offered. He cares about you too and doesn’t want to see you sleeping in the woods.”

Daryl bit his lip and continued to restlessly run his hand along Rick’s desk. Rick should probably tell him that he’d be moving in too. He didn’t want to let Daryl in on his personal life, wanting to keep the teacher student relationship, but seeing as they were going to be roommates very, very soon he couldn’t really justify not telling Daryl while he had the chance. 

“Um, Daryl, it looks like I’ll be staying at Shane’s place for a couple of days myself.” 

Daryl’s eyes darted to Rick’s. “Why?” he asked, his voice a shocked whisper.

Rick chewed on his bottom lip deep in thought, he wasn’t sure how much he should tell Daryl. 

Before he could answer, Daryl shook his head and said, “Sorry. Ain’t none of my business. I’m sure it’s a good reason.”

“Daryl, it’s just that…”

But before he could elaborate, a couple of his fourth period students came in. Daryl looked as though he wanted to say something more, but shook his head and left, he probably didn’t want to be late for his class. They could talk about it after school anyway.

\---

Turns out using a Camaro as a moving van with three full size men wasn’t the brightest idea. It was fine for moving Rick’s gym bag, full of his few things he brought from his house, but there was no way they could all go get Shane’s old bed, even with one of the back seats laid down.

“Tell you what, you two go and I’ll stay at the condo and get started on moving the furniture in your office downstairs,” Rick volunteered, not wanting to be part of the circus that would happen with trying to transport furniture in a muscle car. 

“Sounds good,” Shane agreed. Twirling his keys on his finger, he looked at Daryl, “You ready to move some furniture?”

Daryl snorted from where he was standing next to the door, “And I thought I was a redneck.”

Shane looked at him in mock hurt, “What do you mean by that?’

“Man, if you think we’re gonna get everything in that car without tying the mattress to the roof, you’re crazier than I thought,” Daryl said with a smirk.

“As long as we don’t lose it on the road, I’m gonna call it a win. Redneck or not,” Shane said with a slow smile. “C’mon. I got a date tonight and I want to get this shit done.”

They were only gone an hour, just long enough for Rick to realize he couldn’t move much of the furniture by himself and that Shane did not have anything decent for dinner. Plenty of beer though. Rick ordered a pizza and a two liter for the three of them. He’d convince Shane to go to the store tomorrow,  Daryl needed decent meals, pizza was fine occasionally, but he needed lean meats and vegetables.  

When Shane and Daryl got back, they spent the next hour rearranging furniture, moving the rest of the office furniture downstairs and getting the bed and dresser set up for Daryl in the now defunct office, Rick stopping only to answer the door for the delivery guy. Pepperoni was a good choice, but Daryl didn’t want the Coke, he opted for a glass of water instead. 

Shane was sheepish when they finished their two large pizzas, “Thanks for getting dinner, Rick. Meant to get to the store last week, but it’s been crazy. I’ll go as soon as I get a chance.” 

“Least I can do for you taking me in on such short notice,” Rick said with feeling.

“I’d do anything for you, man.”

“Geeze, get a room,” Daryl huffed as he got up and tossed his paper plate in the trash.

Rick and Shane shared a look and winced, too mushy for two grown men.  

After dinner Shane reminded them he had a date. “Hope ya’ll don’t mind. But this chick is only in town for the weekend. She’s a stewardess for Delta,” he said with a salacious smile.

Rick waved him off, “Go on. We’ll be fine. I’ve got some papers to grade and I’m sure Daryl would like to get started on that paper for English class Mrs. Blanco assigned him.”

Daryl snorted, but got up and went to his new room.

Shane paused with his hand on the back of a chair, “You sure you’re ok? She’ll be back in a month I think.”

“Yeah, it’s cool. Go on and have your date. Just,” Rick waved his hand around to emphasis the space,  “I don’t think it would be a good idea to bring her back here with Daryl here, ya know?”

“Nah man. I know better. But I might stay the night with her. I’ll text you if I do.” Shane said, hand tapping the back of the chair before heading upstairs to his own room, the shower starting a few minutes later.

Rick sighed and got his bag from where he’d left it by the couch. He debated going back to the kitchen table to grade papers, but the couch was comfortable. He was halfway through his freshman class’ last test when Shane sailed through, chatting away on his cell phone.  Rick waved, but he wasn’t sure Shane even noticed.

After grading another dismal paper from his junior class, Rick decided he’d earned a beer. And after he graded his AP class’ test, he decided he needed another two. 

He was just shoving all the papers back in his bag when Daryl came out of his room with his empty glass. He’d changed into looser clothes, a t-shirt with the arms ripped out and an old pair of sweats that Rick was sure Lori would never let him wear, even to bed.

But with Daryl’s arms exposed, Rick could really see where the kid got the power to throw the ball like he did. His shoulders were wide, even for a full grown man. And his biceps were probably bigger than Rick’s. It was a wonder Daryl didn’t have a line around the block wanting to date him just for that alone. 

Daryl came out of the kitchen and stopped to look at Rick as he made up the couch with sheets and a blanket.

“I can sleep on the couch. I did last night,” Daryl offered.

Rick shook his head and sat down, “Nah, I’ll only be here a couple of nights. It’s best you sleep in your own bed.”

Daryl nodded and came over to the couch and indicated with his head if it was okay to sit. Rick patted the spot next to him.

“She kick you out?” Daryl asked without preamble as he sat down with a flop.

Rick snorted, “Not really any of your business.”

Daryl laughed, “Maybe not. But the last three times I’ve been around that she’s called, she gave you shit.”

Rick pulled his pride around himself, “I thought it would be a good idea if we had some time to think. Apart.”

“Good plan.”

They sat in silence for a while, Rick finally easing back into the cushions next to where Daryl slumped.

“You know, I ain’t never been in a tornado before,” Daryl said after a while.

“I  _ haven’t _ either,” Rick said, emphasizing the correct word.

Daryl ignored it, “I was scared shitless.”

“Me too,” Rick confessed with a chuckle.

They lapsed back into silence. Rick relaxing even more. The long week and the three beers had caught up to him. 

He must have actually dozed off because he woke to Daryl's hand thrown across his torso, clenching the fabric of Rick's shirt. And he was pretty sure Daryl was trying to sniff at Rick's neck.

There would be no way to avoid the conversation after this. The one where Rick said he was flattered, but Daryl was a student and Rick was married. And also that even though there was nothing wrong with that, Rick wasn't gay.

But all that went out the window when he felt Daryl's lips on his neck and the hand that had been holding on to his shirt slide underneath it instead.

“Daryl,” Rick whispered in warning, his voice still thick with sleep.

But Daryl grew bolder and the tentative peck Rick had felt on his neck was now a full blown kiss, Daryl’s tongue swiping along with his lips. His hand had curled into the hairs on Rick's stomach and damn that was the worst thing that could happen. He loved fingers running through the hair on his chest and stomach.

Rick came to his senses and pushed Daryl away from him. He couldn't look at him, but could barely hear his ragged breath, and feel the heat of him sitting right there.

“Coach, I...” but he didn’t finish whatever it was he was going to say. Rick’s phone pinged and when he looked at it, Daryl got up and ran from the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How many of you saw that coming? I know, all of you! Lol 
> 
> Thanks for all the lovely comments! I'm so glad you all are so invested in this!
> 
> And like I said a couple of chapters ago, DMing me for spoilers isn't going to work!


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Buckle up, kiddos.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh look, I'm thanking 1Lostone and TWDObsessive again. :D Really, if it weren't for them, ya'll would get some shitty stuff to read. 
> 
> And this is for TWDObsessive because she is my friend and she is as excited as someone could be about this fic. 
> 
> Thank you so much for your comments (and dm's and emails!), I'm so glad everyone is into this.

Rick woke to the sound of Shane coming in at the crack of dawn, keys rattling in his hands as he tried to sneak in. It had been Shane’s text last night that had run Daryl off, telling Rick that the night was going well and not to wait up on him. It had given Rick the opportunity to talk to Daryl, but Rick wasn’t sure it was a good idea. He was still stunned that Daryl would be so bold, not to mention that Daryl’s touch had left Rick shaken. 

“Give it up, Shane. You never could be quiet enough not to wake the dead.”

Shane chuckled, “And here I thought I’d gotten better.”

Rick sat up and rubbed his hand through his hair and down his face, “Did you have a good time?”

“Had a great time! She was this frisky blond with blue highlights and a fancy British accent. She’s in to swings and….well, she likes kinky shit,” Shane said with a smile and a wistful look. 

Rick chuckled, trying not to imagine what kind of ‘kinky shit’ Shane was talking about. The kinkiest thing Rick had done lately had been having sex with the lights on. 

Shane yawned big, stretching and scratching the back of his head. “And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go to bed. She was on London time and had enough energy, the damn energizer bunny wouldn’t have been able to keep up.”

Rick snorted. Some guys like that kind of life, but not Rick. He’d always been happy coming home to the same woman. He liked the security of knowing there was someone there waiting. Maybe he’d gotten to used to it. 

And then the events of the last week came back to him in a rush. He may not even have a woman anymore. Didn’t have a truck, nor a home at the moment either. 

Deciding that a run would clear his head, Rick made a quick trip to the bathroom, got dressed and grabbed a bottle of water. Shane lived in a community that had sidewalks and walking trails in the woods that surrounded the complex. He hoped to have the space to himself for a good long run, running always helped to clear his head.

When he got back, he took a quick shower and then made a cup of coffee. The refrigerator still only contained beer and condiments so Rick borrowed the Camaro to go to the store. He sent a text to Shane to let him know. 

The condo was still quiet when he got back. It was nearly noon, so after he was finished putting away the groceries, he went to check on Daryl. Teenage boy or no, Daryl wasn’t going to sleep all day. 

Rick gently knocked and waited a minute. When he got no answer, he knocked a bit harder and stage whispered Daryl’s name through the door. After waiting a moment, he gently opened the door. 

The room was neat as a pin. Surprising since the only thing in there at the moment was the small bed. Daryl wasn’t even in there. Just the made up bed.

Daryl may have slipped out while Rick was out at the store, but Rick felt sure that Daryl would have made his presence known at some point.   

The bathroom door was open and the little room dark, so he wasn’t there. He wasn’t in the kitchen or living room and the patio was empty too. He rejected the notion that Daryl would be in Shane’s room.

Rick put his hands on his hips as he thought. Could the rejection from last night have made Daryl leave? And when did he leave? Daryl could have slipped past Rick last night when he fell asleep or he could have just as easily left while Rick at the store. 

Daryl didn’t have a phone, so Rick checked for a note. It was the polite thing to do after all. But there wasn’t a note anywhere that Rick could see. 

A quick look around the neighborhood didn’t give any clues either. It was useless to panic and since Daryl was eighteen it would be laughable to call the police. Rick would just have to hope that Daryl came back, and if he didn’t, then hope to see him Monday in school.

Lori called in the early afternoon.

“Rick? I spoke to the pastor. He wants us to stay after church tomorrow and meet him in his office. Can you do that?” 

“I really wasn’t planning on going to church tomorrow. Don’t want to dress up and play pretend.” 

“Rick. Please. I can’t go into church tomorrow without you. I can’t put Carl through that,” she said, her voice low and fierce.

“Fine. For Carl.” Rick let out a long breath, “But I still need time, Lori. I want this marriage to be real, not just a show for the neighbors.”

Lori sighed in relief, “I want that too, Rick. I know that we can make this work. I love you.”

“I love you too,” there was no hesitation in Rick’s answer. “Is Carl there? I’d like to talk to him.” 

There was a pause on the line, “No, he’s over at his friend Patrick’s house.”

Rick nodded his head even though she couldn’t see, “Yeah, ok. Well, tell him I love him and I’ll see him tomorrow.”

“Okay, Rick. I’ll pick you up tomorrow.” 

Shane came stumbling out of his room shortly after that. He didn’t have a clue where Daryl could be either, but didn’t seem as worried about it as Rick, brushing off Rick’s concerns in favor of commenting on Rick’s grocery shopping trip.

“Aw, man. You didn’t need to go to the store!” He exclaimed when he looked in the refrigerator.

“Least I can do seeing as you’re putting me and Daryl up on short notice. And I know that’s gonna cramp your style.” Rick said.

Shane shook his head, “Don’t mention it. You know I always got your back. And Daryl, I couldn’t turn my back on him. Kid’s already had a tough life. If I can help even a little, I will.” 

Rick put a hand on Shane’s shoulder and looked him deep in the eye, “You’re a good man.”

“Hey, just tryin’ to live up to your standard.” 

Daryl came back just as Rick was deciding what to make for dinner. He had to knock because the door was locked, so Shane had gone to answer it. 

“Daryl! Where have you been? We’ve been worried!” Shane said by way of greeting. Rick rolled his eyes behind Shane’s back, now he was worried. 

He held up his tool box, “Workin’. I have to do it on the weekends. Got work all day tomorrow too.”

“You could have let us know. Left a note or something,” Rick said.

Daryl blinked in confusion, “Didn’t know you’d be lookin’ for me.”

“‘Course we would. You live here now,” Shane said.

“It’s not the first time,” Daryl looked at Shane, confused. 

“Just let Shane know next time. It’s not that you have to ask permission, just common courtesy,” Rick explained, giving Shane a hard glare. Really, Shane should have noticed that Daryl had been gone all day working on the weekends before Rick had come to stay. 

“Oh,” Daryl rubbed a thumb along the handle of the toolbox he was still holding. 

“Look, just tell me or leave a note or somethin’,” Shane said, grimacing at Rick. 

“Yeah, okay,” Daryl said, nodding his head and not meeting their eyes. “I’m gonna put this away and take a shower. Kinda covered in grease.”

Rick let his eyes flick over Daryl’s body and did notice the oil and grime that had been partially wiped away. It mostly highlighted the thick muscles along Daryl’s arms and made the shadows of his cheeks more pronounced. 

“I’m gonna make dinner, spaghetti okay? Or do you want chicken?” Rick asked on his way to the kitchen.

“Don’t care, I’ll eat whatever,” Daryl said as he headed down the hallway. He stopped and came back, pulling a twenty dollar bill out of his pocket, “Here’s for my share of the groceries.”

Shane started to protest, but Rick forestalled him by holding up a hand, “Thank you Daryl. I appreciate it. I’m sure Shane wouldn’t mind if you went next time.”

“Shoot no! I hate going to the grocery store! I’d rather eat out anyway,” Shane said with a wink in Rick’s direction.

Rick rolled his eyes, “Chicken or spaghetti?”

“Aw man,” Shane said sheepishly, “I got a date tonight. Gonna take her to that new restaurant downtown. The one the movie star and his buddy opened.”

“I thought the stewardess was only gonna be in town one night,” Rick asked.

“Didn’t say it was the stewardess!” Shane laughed as he followed Daryl down the hall to go to his own room.

It was interesting making spaghetti with the limited amount of cookware that Shane had. But since Rick was only making for two, he managed it. Just needed two pans anyway, one for the jar of sauce and one for the noodles.

“Man, that smells good!” Shane said as he sailed by on his way out the door, “I’ll text ya if I stay over!”

That left Rick alone with Daryl again. He’d had a lot of time to think about what happened the night before and already had a bit of a speech prepared if it came up again. He had to be careful, he wanted to let Daryl down easy, but not alienate him. Rick didn’t want to risk losing the best pitcher he’d seen since he was in high school.

Daryl ate with a single mindedness that startled Rick. Not even looking up to talk to Rick, just pushing forkful after forkful into his mouth. Only stopping to take long drinks of his water.

“Did you eat today?” Rick asked.

“Didn’t have time,” Daryl said, his eyes still on his plate.

Rick did not like the sound of that, “You miss a lot of meals?”

Daryl did look at Rick then, “I eat enough. I can take care of myself.”

“Okay,” Rick wasn’t going to start an argument.

Just then a low rumble of thunder rolled across the condo.

“Wasn’t expecting a storm tonight,” Rick said as he got up to turn on the tv to find the weather.

Rick watched as a frantic meteorologist pointed at a map with a large smear of red across it with little flashing lighting bolts everywhere. “Damn, looks like we are in for another bad one.”

Daryl quickly finished his plate and put it in the dishwasher along with the rest of the dinner dishes. He’s next to Rick soon after, watching the tv with a sober intensity.

“They’re not talking tornadoes again, just heavy lighting and rain,” Rick said, guessing Daryl’s anxiety. 

Chewing on his thumb nail, Daryl shrugged a shoulder. 

“And if it does get bad, we can go hide in the bathroom,” Rick continued.

Daryl nodded his head. 

A flash of lightning illuminated the room followed by a sharp crack of thunder.They both jumped at the sudden noise. 

“Never scared me before the tornado,” he mumbled.

“Yeah,” was all Rick could think to say.

The storm looked like a big one, filling the screen as the person on the tv picked out the cities and towns in it’s path. It looked like they were next to be hit by the strongest part of the storm.

“Do you want to go ahead and go to the bathroom?” Rick asked.

Daryl didn’t answer, just turned and headed down the hallway.

Rick grabbed the pillow and blanket that he’d used the night before and followed Daryl. He sent a quick text to Shane to check on him. Shane immediately texted back that he would be staying in the city and getting a hotel room for the night.

Relieved to know that Shane wouldn’t be trying to drive in the storm, Rick hoped that it would blow over quickly. Daryl seemed to be shell shocked.

Just as Rick got to the bathroom, a flash of light so intense that Rick was blinded was followed by a boom that shook the whole building and then the lights went out. Rick had a quick flash of huddling under the desk before shaking that thought and moving down the hall.

Daryl hollered for Rick to hurry up. He had to put a hand along the wall to get to the bathroom without stumbling, “I’m here,” he said as he felt along the doorway.

He nearly tripped on Daryl, but was able to get into the room and shut the door behind him. Daryl quickly made room for Rick. They were tucked between the tub and the door, the toilet and the vanity at their feet. 

“We’ll be alright, Daryl. It’ll blow over in just a little bit.”

“Yeah, I know. Just don’t like be stuck in a little room.”

Rick smiled in the dark, “I don’t blame ya.”

The storm raged around them, muted behind the walls of the bathroom. There wasn’t even a candle in the room to light up the pitch black space. And Rick’s watch didn’t light up. So they sat in the total darkness, side by side. 

Daryl spoke after a few minutes, “Sorry about last night. I thought I’d try.”

“I wasn’t expecting it, I’m sorry if I came across too harsh,” Rick said.

“If...if you were expecting it…” Daryl began.

Rick sighed, “Daryl, you must know that it would never happen. Besides the fact that I'm your teacher and coach, I'm also married.”

Daryl let out a heartbreaking sigh, one that just about ripped Rick's heart in two.

“ 'M sorry, I'm sorry. I won't...I won't ever do that, I won't try anything again, I won't. Please don't tell on me. I just, god...You're just...and then I seen you in the shower, and god you're perfect and I fucking hate tornadoes and you, you were holding me and it was...shit!” Daryl slammed his hand against the floor hard enough that Rick could hear a sharp crack.

“Hey there Daryl, calm down. Just a mistake, a misunderstanding. Don't need to hurt yourself.” They sure as shit didn't need Daryl hurting his pitching hand.

Daryl took several calming breaths and then Rick felt him settle down next to him, his head hitting the wall softly. 

“I had you for Algebra my freshman year,” Daryl said.

“Yeah, I remember.”

“I couldn't even look at you, I'd,  _ god _ , I'd get a boner every time,” Daryl confessed.

“Oh,” was all Rick could say.

“I sat in the back, so maybe you wouldn't look at me, I just froze up like a rabbit whenever you paid any attention to me.”

Rick thought back to Daryl's freshman year. “I was pretty nervous myself, it was only my second year teaching and it was the first year I was allowed to do my own curriculum and I didn't have the principal stopping by three times a day.”

“Huh,” was all Daryl had to say to Rick's own confession.

Rick swallowed, contemplating telling Daryl about his own school teacher crush. Mrs. Smith, she was a petite blond with hair down to her ass. She drove a little sports car because her husband was an airplane pilot, and she only worked because she wanted to. Rick had it bad for her, or maybe for her car. He wasn't sure now.

Daryl interrupted his musings, “I thought it would go away, hormones and stuff, you know. So I made sure I didn't have you for Algebra II the next year. But I kept looking for you in the halls and lunchroom and stuff. And then I found out you were the baseball coach.”

Rick guessed it must have been the surrealness of being in a pitch black room, in a storm, with your crush that was causing the word vomit from Daryl. Rick wasn't sure he'd ever heard so many words all at once from him before and it was more than Rick ever expected.

“I started looking for fly balls that hadn't been found on the other side of the back field. I took them out into the woods and I would practice throwing them. I was terrible, I didn't know what I was doing. I finally looked up some videos on Youtube while I was in the library.”

Well Rick had his answer about how Daryl had been under the radar for so long, he wasn't even  _ on _ the radar. He was actually kinda impressed that Daryl had put so much effort into getting on the team.

“It took me over a year before I felt like I could try out for the team, but I chickened out last year.”

Daryl's head was sliding closer to Rick's shoulder as he talked, Rick chose to ignore it for the time being.

“This year was my last chance,” Daryl gave away.

“Daryl, I'm flattered. Really I am, but you're a kid and...”

“I'm eighteen!”

“...and still I'm your teacher and your coach. I'm married, and I'm sorry if this hurts you, but I've never thought of you or any other guy that way,” Rick tried to be as gentle as he could. He never understood how some guys could be so cavalier about breaking hearts.

“Just stop, okay. I get it. I know I'll never be good enough for you or what you want. I was never even gonna say anything or do anything,” Daryl had straightened back up, collecting himself.  “You were just so..perfect that night during the tornado.”

“I'm far from perfect, Daryl,” Rick chuckled, his head lolled over in Daryl's general direction.

“Maybe to other people,” Daryl's voice was a lot closer than Rick expected it to be, a hairs breath from his face.

“Daryl,” Rick tried again.

“Just, just one. So I know if it was all worth it,” Daryl was begging him.

“It's not, Daryl,” Rick would ask himself a thousand times after that fateful night why he did it. Why he reached a hand up and found the back of Daryl's head. He meant it to be a gesture of kindness, and maybe if he'd put his hand on Daryl's shoulder instead, then Daryl wouldn't have taken it for an invitation.

Rick was shocked to feel Daryl's lips on his own. Never expected their warmth, their softness. And when Daryl licked at Rick's lips he gasped in surprise, Daryl taking this as an invitation to deepen the kiss, darting his tongue inside Rick's mouth.

He should have pushed him away, he should have said no. This was basically a sexual assault, but Rick was frozen in place, shocked by how damn good it felt. God, he  _ moaned _ into the kiss, egging Daryl on further.

Daryl was holding Rick's face, turning his head slightly so the younger man could get a better angle. And then somehow Rick had a lap full of horny teenager, grinding him. And he couldn't stop. His own hands were full of that too long hair, and he was pulling him in closer, deepening the kiss, grinding back.

And, Jesus fuck, it was hot as hell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been chomping at the bit to post this chapter! 
> 
> So now we know how Daryl learned how to pitch and why he wanted to be on the baseball team. 
> 
> I really do love Shane in this as well. I like to imagine their relationship was like this pre-apocalypse.
> 
> And I should probably feel guilty for leaving you a cliff hanger _again_ , but I don't. Because I'm a jerk.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What is it with Daryl and storms anyway?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my wonderful betas, 1Lostone and TWDObsessive. They are the bestest. 
> 
> This is a gift for my super awesome friend TWDObsessive. 
> 
> Also, big thanks to KatyTheInspiredWorkaholic for helping me out with this chapter tonight. 
> 
> I have tweaked this quite a bit since Lost and TWD looked at it last, so any mistakes you see are mine. 
> 
> _Drops chapter and runs_

Rick gasped at the sensations boiling through his body, things he hadn’t felt for a very long time, things he’d put behind him. He pushed Daryl away roughly, causing him to hit the sink with a thunk. Rick didn’t wait to see if he was okay, just jumped up and yanked open the door.

He ran until he go to the patio doors and the savagely pulled one open and ran out into the storm. The worst of it seemed over, but the rain was still coming down steady. He barely made it off the concrete and into the grass before he was bent over and heaving. Throwing up all of his dinner in great, awful spurts. 

“Coach?”

Rick put up a hand behind himself to ward off Daryl coming any closer.

“Are you okay?”

He cleared his throat and spit before standing up and, without turning around, said, “Go back inside Daryl.’

“Coach, I’m sorry if…”

“ _ Go back inside!” _ Rick said through gritted teeth.

“I just want….”

Rick flew around at that, “What? You just what? Want to ruin my life? Make me lose my job and family?”

Daryl shook his head, his eyes wide, “No! No, I would never want that!”

“What do you think is going to happen?” Rick asked as he stalked towards where Daryl stood in the doorway. “Did you think I would throw away my career and walk away from my family?  _ I’m not even gay _ !”

“But you said you cared about me!” Daryl cried.

“I care about all my students. I would have done the same for anyone in your situation.”

“No” Daryl said vehemently, “I don’t think you would. I saw how you looked at me in the showers. I’ve seen you watching me.” 

Rick pinched his nose, “Daryl, I promise you. I haven’t looked at you in that way. You are a student and that’s the end of the story.”

Daryl stood taller, “I’m a grown man. I know what it means when someone is looking at me like the way you were looking at me.”

“You may be an adult in the eyes of the law, but you are still a student and it would still be wildly inappropriate.” 

“I’ll be done with high school in just a few weeks. Already got a full time job lined up. I’ve been working since I was thirteen, taking care of myself. Being a man. And I know what I want.”

Rick put his hands on his hips, “I’m happy for you. But I’m not what you want. Don’t confuse me doing my job and caring for you  _ as a student _ as anything more than that. I’m flattered, but it’s never going to happen.”

“You’re afraid,” Daryl accused him. “Afraid of admitting you don’t want a perfect wife and a perfect life. I know you’re not happy. I know that’s why you’re here at Coach Walsh’s instead of at your own home.”

“No. You don’t know what you’re talking about. And my personal life is none of your damn business,” Rick countered.

“You kissed me back.”

Rick looked away, hands on his hips, “No. I was surprised. I thought you understood I didn’t think of you that way.”

“I can see through you, even if you can’t.”

Turning back to look Daryl in they eye, Rick said again, “It’s not going to happen.”

They stared at each other for a moment, Rick starting to shiver, before Daryl shook his head and went back inside. Rick sighed. All the male teachers had to go through this at some point, usually with female students. It would go away once Rick was older and not as close in age to his students, but it was still stressful and scary. He did not want to be humiliated and lose his job because of a teenage infatuation. 

The water still came pouring down as Rick stood out in the rain, soaking him to the bone. But he wasn’t ready to go back inside and be in the same room as Daryl just yet. He stood with his back to the wall, willing himself to calm down.

Tomorrow he would go to church with Lori, talk to the pastor, and go home. His life was set. He had his career, his family, baseball. That’s all he needed and wanted. Tomorrow everything would go back to normal. 

\---

Lori didn’t bring dress clothes for him to wear to church when she came to pick him up, “I didn’t know you were planning on skiiping church while you were visiting Shane!”

Carl was happy to see him at least.

Nothing says  _ something is off  _ more than showing up to church under dressed. At least he had a polo shirt instead of just a t-shirt. Lori smiled brightly and played it off like Rick had overslept. At least everyone was too polite to call her on her bullshit. 

The meeting with the pastor didn’t go well. According to him, they were both to blame. By the thin set of Lori’s lips, that wasn’t what she wanted to hear. 

“Really Lori, you’re going to have to meet Rick halfway. He has a commitment to the school and the team and if you don’t think he’s around enough, maybe you should go to the games with him.” Pastor Greene had told Lori with a firm directness that she clearly wasn’t expecting. He then turned his stern gaze on Rick, making Rick squirm a bit, “And Rick, if you tell Lori you are going to do something, even if it’s just making a phone call, then you have to do it. Lori loses trust in you every time you fail to do what you’ve promised.” The older man was right, Rick needed to do what he promised to do.

They would have to come back to see the pastor next week too. In the meantime, Rick was going to go back home. And Lori was going to have to go to Rick’s game on Thursday. He had to bite the inside of his mouth when the pastor told her that she should involve herself in Rick’s outside activities.

Rick would have to take Carl to practice on Tuesday and go to his game on Saturday. Not too bad. And he and Lori would have to go out on a date, just the two of them, on Friday. The pastor was sure they could patch things up in a couple of weeks. Rick hoped so, he felt off kilter and needed the stability of Lori and home.

They stopped at Shane’s place to pick up Rick’s things. Neither Daryl nor Shane were there. It was probably for the best, Rick didn’t want an awkward conversation with Daryl. He did text Shane and let him know that he was going home.

“I’ll wash your laundry,” Lori said as soon as they got home.

Rick shook his head, “I can do it.”

She sighed, “Rick, let me. Please.”   


He acquiesced and followed Carl up to his room. He wanted to show Rick his new nerf gun that Lori’s parents had bought him. Funny that Rick wasn’t allowed to even mention hunting and teaching Carl about real guns and gun safety, but her parents could get him a pretend gun.

“Did you have fun with Shane?” Carl asked.

“Yeah, buddy. Shane’s my best friend, we always have fun.”

Carl nodded his head, “Patrick is my best friend. But we still get mad.”

Rick chuckled, “Well, I’ve known Shane a long time. And we used to get mad at each other too, but we don’t usually anymore. We’ve learned how to not make each other mad.”

“So you don’t know mommy a long time?” Carl asked, shooting a dart into the air.

“What do you mean, buddy?” Rick shot his own dart in the same direction Carl had shot his. 

“You and mommy get mad at each other a lot. Maybe you need to know her longer?” Carl asked with childish innocence. 

Rick felt a flush creep up his neck. He was mortified that his son had picked up on the tension in their home. “Mommy and I are going to try real hard to not fight so much anymore. Okay?”

Carl nodded, “Okay, daddy.”

“Rick?” Lori called up the stairs.

He popped his head out of Carl’s door and looked down the steps at her, “Yeah?” 

“Why do you have sopping wet clothes?” 

Damn, he was not going to tell her about what happened with Daryl. At best she would be amused and at worst, she would be angry. Either way, she wouldn’t be able to resist mentioning it to Daryl when she came to the game on Thursday.

“I got caught out in the storm last night.”

She cocked her head to the side, “What were you doing out in the storm?” 

“I went to the grocery store for Shane, had to make a few trips in and it was raining pretty hard.” Not really a lie. He had gone to the store. And it had taken more than one trip.

“The storm came awful late last night.” She was not going to let it go.

Rick looked her steady in the eye, “Yes, it did.”

Shaking her head, she turned and walked away, “You have a white knight syndrome, Rick. It’ll get you in trouble one day!”

She didn’t know how right she was.

\---

Monday was back to the routine. Except Shane picked Rick up for work. Daryl sat in the back seat sullenly. He didn’t join in the conversation that Rick and Shane were having about Rick looking at new trucks. He didn’t even look at Rick as far as Rick could tell.

When third period rolled around, Daryl slunk in and sat at his desk. He looked out the window the whole time, Rick thought about calling on him, but figured it wasn’t worth the potential awkwardness. Not to mention Rick could still almost feel the ghost of Daryl’s lips on his own and Daryl’s hair twined in his fingers, worse even than  _ Bang! Coach! _

Lori was picking him up after school to take him to a dealership. The insurance guy had called and said that they would pay about half of what the truck was worth. Not much, but at least a down payment on a good used truck.

Rick hated the dealership. The salesman just wanted to sell Rick the biggest and loudest truck on the lot. Lori seemed to want that too, but Rick just wanted a solid truck that would get him from point A to point B and maybe haul some stuff while he was at it. They left the dealership empty handed nearly four hours later. The only thing Rick got was a headache.

The next day at lunch Shane suggested Rick look online and find just the right truck that way instead of trying to go to a bunch of dealerships. Rick could kick himself for not thinking of that. He had Lori’s SUV today since he had to take Carl to soccer practice and she was going to want him to come home as soon as possible. She hated not having a vehicle. But Rick would still need to go to the tail end of baseball practice.

Carl’s practice was over quick. The coach had something to do, and none of the other parents wanted to stick around and watch a bunch of four and five year olds run back and forth.

But because of that, Rick was able to get back to baseball practice early. Carl was thrilled to get to go too. Rick and Shane were going to do some batting practice with the boys, and Rick was eager to teach Carl how to hold a bat.

He was also going to throw some curveballs at the team so they could learn to hit it. Shane was behind the batter’s box coaching the boys, showing them how to hold the bat and when to swing. The boys were really impressed when Rick threw one to Shane on a whim and Shane hit it so far that it hit the top of a tree on the other side of the outfield.

“Wow!” Glenn exclaimed. “You guys look like pros!”

Shane laughed, “Not me. But Coach Grimes could have.”

Rick shook his head at Shane. Rick had never even tried out or been called up to the majors. And he had no regrets. Even if Lori did.

When practice was over, Rick felt better than he had for almost a month. Baseball always made things right in his mind. And seeing Carl’s eyes light up when one of the boys hit a ball was something he would cherish. 

Daryl had stayed in the background and only came up to the plate when Shane got on him about it. Daryl wasn’t as good at hitting the ball as he was at throwing it, but he wasn’t the worst on the team. Shane had had to spend a bit more time helping Daryl get his feet planted correctly, but by the time he was done, Rick was satisfied Daryl could get a hit. Not necessarily a home run, but definitely get to first base and maybe to second. 

Wednesday’s practice was more time spent practicing hitting different kinds of pitches, Rick let his pitchers throw this time though. Letting them throw their specialties. The boys were cocky, striking out their teammates left and right, but none of them were able to strike out Rick and Shane. It was fun seeing Jimmy’s smug smile to slide off his face. 

They easily won the game against Hilltop. The coach was, as predicted, more worried about parents impressions than actually teaching his team anything. At least it was good for morale. The boys were back to thinking they had a shot at the playoffs. 

Daryl had pitched well, even if he mostly ignored Rick. It was fine. At least Daryl had done his best. Rick tried not to let his eyes stray to the boy more than what was strictly necessary because every time he did he was transported back to Shane’s bathroom floor. It disturbed Rick more than he cared to admit how it felt to have Daryl in his arms for that brief moment.

Lori had sat in the bleachers, her phone in her hand the whole time. She’d taken Carl to her parents again, saying that Carl would be bored and causing mischief if she brought him.

Daryl didn’t stick around for ice cream. Shane called Rick later to let him know that Daryl had gotten home okay, but he didn’t elaborate on how. It was hard not to worry about him, but as Daryl would have pointed out, he was an adult and could come and go as he pleased.

Date night with Lori was...frustrating. 

“Lori, hey,” Rick said after the salads had shown up, “We’re supposed to be on a date.” He tried to make it sound light, but his frustration seeped through.

She gave him a tight smile that didn’t reach her eyes, “I know, Rick. I’m here.”

“Yeah, you are. And I’m glad that you are. But why have you already had Mrs. Mcleod and Mrs. Morales over here?” Rick tried not lose his patience, instead he stabbed several lettuce leaves and shoved them in his mouth.

Lori pursed her lips and darted her eyes around the restaurant before answering, “They had questions about the tornado, questions you didn’t seem to want to answer.”

She was right, the two women had come to ask after Rick and how he’d survived the tornado. It didn’t seem like they knew about Daryl. Rick hadn’t been able to answer because all he could really remember about the incident was  _ Bang! Coach!  _ and the way Daryl had felt in his arms.

“I get that Lori, I do. But I’d like to spend this time talking about us.”

“Rick, if you think I’m going to discuss our personal problems in the best restaurant in town for everyone to hear, you are crazy,” she hissed. She sat up straighter and plastered on a smile, no doubt someone had looked over. “Besides, I need to talk to those women about the fundraiser for the tornado victims.”

As far as Rick knew, the only people that had been affected by the tornado were the people in Daryl’s trailer park. The school was going to get state funds to fix up the ballfield and field house, so they didn’t need to raise any money for them. He’d have to check with Daryl to see if anyone had contacted him about money or donations. “How many folks were affected, do you know?”

Lori gave him a blank look, “A lot of people.”

Rick tilted his head, “Do you have a list of families?” 

She smiled at the waiter that was dropping off their entrees and waited for him to leave before answering, “None of them go to our church, so I don’t have the exact number or everyone’s name yet. We usually rely on the school to give us a list of families that need help...but that’s usually at Christmas. We might have to ask the Red Cross.”

“Seems like that would have been the first thing you’d do,” Rick aimed for calmness, carefully cutting into his steak.

Lori took a long drink of her Chardonnay.

“But, I’m not in charge of the church fundraising for the tornado victims, you are. So, I’m sure you’ve got it all figured out.” Rick was being an ass, but he couldn’t help himself. Lori’s attitude about the whole thing just rankled. She didn’t even know, or seem to care, about who had actually been affected by the tornado. 

“I’ll talk to Pastor Greene’s wife tomorrow about it,” she said. 

They didn’t talk much more after that. 

Even though Rick was home, and sleeping in his own bed, it was like there was a wall between them. She would only talk about day to day things and Carl’s schedule. Sometimes breaking up the monotony to complain that Rick still hadn’t found a replacement truck.

It wasn’t as though he hadn’t tried, it was just none of the ones he saw online looked like his old truck. He knew he wouldn’t be able to get one just like it, but it would be nice to at least get a stick shift. But they didn’t make them anymore. No one wanted them it seemed.

As he got up to take Carl to his soccer game Saturday he realized he’d gotten one of his wishes. His life was back to the way it was before a month ago. Back in his perfect house, with his perfect wife, perfect son, and perfect life.

But why did it feel so wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, Pitchforks to the right, torches to the left. Thank you...
> 
> Poor Rick, he's all confused. And yeah, Lori isn't helping. 
> 
> And although it would be very romantic for Rick and Daryl to declare their love kissing in the rain, there is that pesky problem of ethics that Rick is well aware of.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rick is standing at ocean's edge, trying to hold the back the tide. How do you think that will work?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my betas 1Lostone and TWDObsessive. They are more than a writer could ever hope for as betas.
> 
> This fic is for my buddy TWDObsessive. I happen to know she is working on an awesome historical fic that you all will love.

Church on Sunday was another lesson in patience for Rick. This time the pastor preached on doing the right thing, even if it felt wrong. And of course when he and Lori met with Pastor Greene after church, he lauded them for the progress they’d made. It was important that Rick and Lori be doing things together, even if they weren’t actually talking to each other.

They won the next two games, one with Daryl pitching and one without. Daryl was their best pitcher, no doubts there, but Jimmy and Ron were good. And with Bob as their catcher, he made all three of them better. Glenn was shaping up to be a world class short stop in his own right. While individually the team was better than average, when they worked together, they were downright amazing. 

Rick would have been happier about it if Lori didn’t seem to grow more agitated after each game. She hated sitting in the bleachers and didn’t mind telling Rick about it the whole way home. The heat, how uncomfortable the seats were, how bored Carl would get and how hard it was to keep him sitting in his seat. 

She really hated sitting there with nothing to do but watch the game and Carl. Rick couldn’t figure that one out, there were plenty of moms there for her to hang out with, and as the coach’s wife, she’d be ‘head mom’ or something like that. Rick had even seen Jessie try and talk to Lori before the first game, but Lori had put on her fake smile and Jessie finally got the hint and went back to her station by the cooler. 

Riding together also ticked her off. She didn’t want to go for ice cream after a win, but Rick pretty much had to as everyone else was going and he was the coach. She never wanted to eat the ice cream and would instead order a water and then sit primly beside Rick at one of the tables, mostly ignoring all the folks that came to talk to Rick while they were there.

“When are you going to go buy a new truck?” she asked on the way home from DQ after the last game.

Rick waited until he’d made the right turn onto their street before answering, “Haven’t had time. Not with practice and the games - baseball and Carl’s. And school and church. School will be out in a month, we’ll go then.”

Lori blew out a long breath as she stared out the window. Rick hadn’t failed to notice she barely looked at him anymore. She looked in his direction, but not at him. It’s like he was a crack in the wall that couldn’t be fixed, she knew it was there, knew that it needed to be fixed, andlooked anywhere but at it. As though it wasn’t important. 

“How many more games?” She asked after a moment.

“If we win next week, we’ll go to the playoffs. Might be playing until the middle of June if we keep winning.”

“June? Surely you won’t make it that far?” 

Rick felt a little stab of pain at her panic, “We’ve got a good chance. Our district is pretty competitive and we’ve only lost one game. And that was to the team that went to state last year and the year before.”

“So as soon as you play that team, you guys are out of the running?” 

“We learned from our loss. Not gonna let them steamroll us next time. I’ve been teaching the boys how to hit the curveball their star pitcher throws.” Rick said as he pulled into the driveway.

Still not looking at Rick, too busy grabbing her purse and opening the door, she asked, “But they’ve gone to state twice, so it would be a long shot, right?” 

Rick looked at his wife, she was busy getting out of the SUV and working on getting Carl out of the back. She hadn’t even bothered to wait for Rick to answer.

Yeah, it was a long shot. But Daryl really was the best pitcher that Rick had seen for a long time. Woodbury’s kid was good, but he really only had the surprise of the curveball on his side. Daryl had really developed the slider recently, so he had two good pitches.

The sermon on Sunday was about loving your fellow man. Rick was glad Shane wasn’t there. He would have snickered through the whole thing. Rick feigned a headache so that he wouldn’t have to go talk to the pastor. Really, it was surprising that the man had carved out so much time for Rick and Lori. But then again, Lori was friends with his wife, so maybe he was getting an earful from his Missus.

Shane called that night to say that Daryl had been giving him money every weekend since he’d been there. It wasn’t much, maybe a couple hundred bucks total, but it was probably three quarters of the money that Daryl was making. Shane was putting it in a jar to give back to Daryl later. 

Rick felt a bit guilty. He knew that if it wasn’t for Daryl being on the team he would probably work more and have more money. Maybe even afford a place of his own by now. But no money could replace the experience of being on a winning team. Rick figured it would be worth it in the end.

Daryl continued to limit his interaction with Rick, not looking at Rick in the classroom nor participating in classroom discussions. Not that different really, no one else would have noticed. He gravitated toward Shane at practice instead of Rick like he would have in the past. It was good that Daryl seemed to be getting over whatever feelings he’d had for Rick. Although Rick was concerned that Daryl might be swinging too far away. He was still Daryl’s math teacher and coach. 

The memory of Daryl’s lips on his own often caused Rick to rub a finger across his lips absently, almost as though he could still feel them. Like the  _ Bang! Coach! _ the sensation would sneak up on him throughout the day and sometimes wake him up at night. Rick just chalked it up to how surprised he’d been by the whole encounter. 

Carl’s soccer practice on Tuesday consisted of the coach trying to teach the kids how to run with the ball instead of tripping over it. Rick paid attention, it looked like something he and Carl could do in the backyard. It started to rain before Carl’s practice was over, so that meant that baseball practice would be over quickly too. Rick and Shane weren’t afraid to play in the rain as long as there wasn’t lighting, but they wouldn’t extend it either. 

Wednesday’s practice had started out well. Everyone showed up on time and in good spirits. The team they were playing on Thursday had only one win under their belt, to Hilltop, so the boys were confident of the win. That didn’t mean that Shane and Rick would go easy on them, they still had to run drills and throw balls. 

They were at Alexandria High School for practice. Luckily, Alexandria had two practice fields because they were right next to the middle school and they shared the extra field with the other school. And it wasn’t used on Wednesdays.

Shane noticed it first, the twinge of pain after Daryl threw a fastball that rocked Aaron. He nudged Rick to watch the next pitch. Rick watched as Daryl threw the ball and then gave an almost imperceptible shake of his wrist.

“Dixon!”

Daryl’s head swiveled around to look at Rick. His face was shadowed by the bill of his cap, so Rick couldn’t see his expression, but he still felt a chill.

“Come here,” Rick ordered.

Daryl stood where he was for just a tick, just enough to let Rick know he was coming on his terms and not Rick’s.

When he did saunter up, he looked at a point beyond Rick’s shoulder, “Yeah, Coach?”

Rick was really getting tired of people making it a point of not looking at him. “What’s going on with your arm?’

Daryl bit his lip and shrugged his shoulder.

“Hey, if your arm’s giving you trouble, we need to see about it.” Rick tried to catch his eye, “Listen, if you’re overworking it, or not warming it up enough, we can fix that. But if there’s something else going on, then we need to see about it. Okay?’

“Ain’t got any insurance if it’s hurt,” Daryl said. “Figured I can play through it the next couple ‘a games. We’ll be done soon.”

Shane shook his head, “That’s a terrible idea, man. If you fuck it up, it won’t just be pitching you can’t do. How are you going to be able to turn a wrench if you mess up your arm?”

Daryl bit his lip and looked away. Shane wasn’t having it, “I’m tellin’ ya, it might be just a twinge now, but if we don’t nip it in the bud now, it’ll be something you carry for life and you sure as shit don’t want that.”

“You don’t have to be all dramatic, I’ll ease up on it,” Daryl said.

Rick shook his head, “Not enough. We need to make sure it’s nothing serious.”

Shane’s eyes darted out to the field where one of the boys was staring off into the woods, “Hey! Oscar! Balls don’t come out of the woods! Get your focus back!”

“You go on and get his head back in the game and I’ll take care of Daryl. Gonna take him and ice this arm and see if that helps,” Rick said to Shane.

“I’ll be fine. I’ll just take some Tylenol when I get home,” Daryl protested on the way to the fieldhouse.

“I still wanna see what’s going on. If it’s something easy, we can take care of it right now, but if you keep ignoring it, it’s just gonna get worse.”

Daryl puffed out an exaggerated breath, but didn’t say anything more as he walked in front of Rick to the fieldhouse on the other side of the field. Rick shook his head as he watched Daryl walk away, Daryl was tough, that was for sure. 

“Hit the shower, I’ll make an ice pack. I think I’ve got some ointment I want to rub into it too.” Rick told him when they entered the building.

Except for the paint on the lockers, it looked exactly like the field house at their school. Rick was suddenly transported back to that day over a month previous. Not only could he see the destruction in his mind’s eye, but he could remember sounds too.  _ Bang! Coach! _

Rick shoved that to the back of his mind as he looked through his gym bag where he kept the stuff he’d thought he’d need for the boys. Bandages, ointments, extra socks and batting gloves, and whatever else had accumulated over the last couple of years.

He found a plastic zipper bag and then went to the refrigerator in the coach’s office and put a tray of ice in the bag. He only had to wait a minute for Daryl to come out of the shower. 

Daryl already had his t-shirt on when he came out of the shower room. 

“Gonna need you to take that off so I can get all the way up to your shoulder,” Rick told him.

“I’ll roll my sleeve up,” Daryl said as he walked past Rick to where his things were. 

“Daryl,” Rick began.

“Not taking my shirt off, Coach,” Daryl said, his voice firm.

It really wasn’t worth the fight, Daryl was as shy and introverted a baseball player that Rick had ever come across, so he let it be. “Fine, roll your sleeve up and come here and sit by me on the bench.”

Daryl nodded his head distractedly, but pulled his pants on before he came and sat on the bench next to Rick. He angled his body away and looked at the opposite wall.

Rick tried not to feel the pang of regret. He really did like Daryl and it hurt to think that Daryl didn’t want to have anything to do with him any more, but he was glad he wouldn’t have to try and dissuade Daryl from coming on to him anymore. That had been...difficult to deal with.

“I’m gonna check your arm and see if anything is swollen, is that okay?” Rick asked.

Daryl bit his lip and nodded his head, his eyes trained on the exit sign above the door.

Rick wasn’t sure why his hands were sweating. He’ done this before, gave a kid a rub down when they’d over worked a joint or turned an ankle. It wasn’t any different.

“Roll your sleeve up,” he said quietly.

Daryl licked his lips, but did as he was asked. His eyes stayed firmly fixed away from Rick.

Rick hesitated, his hands hovering over Daryl, “What part of your arm is hurting?” 

“Don’t really hurt, just doesn’t feel right,” Daryl whispered.

Rick nodded his head, “Okay, but is it your wrist or your elbow?’

Daryl shrugged his good shoulder, “I don’t know. Both?”

“Fine, I’ll see if I feel anything out of place. And you let me know if I hit a tender spot, okay?”

Daryl nodded his head, still not looking at Rick.

Rick started by turning Daryl’s hand over and looking at the palm. He felt along the fleshy part under Daryl’s thumb and along all the joints in his fingers. Nothing seemed hot or swollen and Daryl didn’t flinch over anything.

He moved up to Daryl’s wrist, and still nothing seemed out of place. Daryl was taking slow steady breaths the whole time, so Rick paid attention to that, hoping that a hitched breath would give away the troublesome spot.

Rick probed along Daryl’s forearm, and still got no reaction. The elbow also seemed good. Nothing amiss and Daryl’s breathing remained steady, as though he was focusing on taking them slow and measured. Rick couldn’t help but notice again how well developed Daryl’s arm was and by extension, his whole body. As it was, his arm was like corded wood, hard under Rick’s fingers. 

Daryl finally flinched when Rick got to his shoulder and was pushing the t-shirt back so he could get at it easier. 

“Is this where it’s bothering you?” Rick asked.

“Don’t like people touching my back,” Daryl said.

A memory of huddling under a desk came screeching back, Daryl shaking in Rick’s arms, frightened enough that he was plastered against Rick’s side. Even during that he had told Rick that he didn’t like his back touched. 

“Sorry. Forgot,” Rick said.

Daryl nodded and looked down at his feet, his free hand fisted tightly and laying on his thigh.

Rick tried not to let that hurt, “Well, I didn’t feel anything out of place, but I’m still going to rub some ointment in and then have you ice your elbow down for twenty minutes.”

A grunt was Daryl’s only answer.

Rick retrieved the bottle and squeezed a dollop in his hand then retraced where he’d manipulated Daryl’s arm, taking care at the wrist and elbow to really get deep into the joints. Rick tried to keep his focus only where he was touching Daryl, not wanting to stir anything up.  

He had made it up to Daryl’s shoulder when he noticed something dark on Daryl’s skin peeking out from the t-shirt. Rick couldn’t quite make it out, but it certainly wasn’t a bruise. 

“Daryl, do you have a tattoo?” Rick asked incredulously. 

“Yeah, so?”

“Oh, I don’t have a problem with it, just didn’t know you had one. Can I...can I see it?”

Daryl’s eyes flew to Rick and then back to the floor, “No.”

“It’s not vulgar, is it?” Rick asked.

“It’s personal.”

Rick understood about that, Daryl was an intensely private person and getting him to open up about anything was a miracle. Rick realized that he was probably the person that knew him best, and he didn’t even feel like he knew the boy that well. 

“Are you finished?” Daryl asked.

“You know, you can look at me, right? I haven’t turned into a troll or anything,” Rick said jokingly as he rubbed more ointment into Daryl’s shoulder.

“Hurts,” Daryl said so low Rick could barely hear him.

“What? This?” Rick experimentally rubbed a bit harder at the place he’d been working on.  

Daryl shook his head and pulled his arm away from Rick, “No. It hurts to look at you.”

Rick sat frozen, looking at Daryl for so long without speaking that Daryl finally did turn and look at him. The pain that was written in his eyes was clear as day. The moisture that had gathered there was only held back by Daryl’s sheer determination Rick was sure.

“Daryl, I…”

“Save it. I don’t want to hear it,” Daryl said as he got up, taking the bag of ice with him. “Twenty minutes you said?”

Rick stood up too and reached out to touch Daryl, “I’m sorry Daryl. You know how I feel.”

“No. I know what you say you feel, but I don’t think I really know what you feel.”

“Please Daryl…” Rick began.

“I don’t want to hear it. I got enough people telling me they don’t want me around.”

Rick stood up quickly, “Daryl, that’s not it and you know it. I do want you around, I want to see you succeed. I want you to go to state and I want you to graduate. But I can’t be what you want. I’m not some fantasy that you dreamed up freshman year. I’m just your teacher and coach.”

Daryl snorted and looked away again.

“Hey,” Rick ducked his head and looked up, trying to catch Daryl’s eye, “You got your whole life ahead of you and you’ll find someone.”

Daryl finally looked at Rick, anger and hurt blazing across his face, “I don’t need your fucking pep talk. This ain’t no after school special.”

“Damn it, Daryl. I…”

But he didn’t get to finish, the doors to the fieldhouse burst open and the rest of the team came barreling in, pulling Rick’s attention from Daryl. Rick pursed his lips, frustrated that they wouldn’t be able to clear the air about this. Daryl was packing up his gear and walking away when Rick looked back. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh, poor heart broken Daryl. 
> 
> _Gah_ I can't wait for you all to read the next chapter! 
> 
> I'm going out of town and I'm not sure how that will affect posting of the next two chapters. Hopefully you won't notice any disruption.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shane gets drunk and talks too much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> UGH! I am terribly sorry this is late. But I have an excellent excuse. I was drunk. :D
> 
> Thank you to my lovely betas 1Lostone and TWDObsessive. They are wonderful people, and not just because they put up with my nonsense. And as usual, I added a bit after they looked at it, so any mistakes are mine.
> 
> This is a gift for one of those wonderful people, TWDObsessive. A person who never turns down good (or even mediocre) smut. 
> 
> And a big thank you to you, my readers. Your comments and kudos make it all worth while. Please enjoy this chapter!

Stupid. 

No.  _ Idiotic _ . 

He should have known that being alone with Daryl -  _ touching Daryl _ \- was a bad idea. He hadn’t been able to get the incident out of his mind. It lingered there all the rest of the night, making him restless in bed that night, causing Lori to make him go sleep on the couch. Another item on the list of  _ situations  _ that swirled in his mind whenever he thought about Daryl. 

It was there all day Thursday and on into the game. This time though, it was Rick that couldn’t look at Daryl, instead pretending that he was too absorbed in coaching the game to pay attention to him. He’d kept Daryl out of the game to rest his arm, something he would have done anyway.. Luckily the other team couldn’t get a hit off Jimmy or Ron, so Rick didn’t feel bad about Daryl not pitching. 

But the look in Daryl’s eyes, the hurt, the pain, that Rick knew that he had caused, just wouldn’t go away. It cropped up in his mind’s eye at odd moments, times when Rick should be thinking about his home life and his family. At dinner, Carl’s soccer practice, in bed with his wife, all the wrong times. 

Rick needed to run. And not just the easy lopes he’d been doing in his neighborhood the last few weeks. He needed a good hard 10K to clear his mind and stop thinking about the young man in his class and on his team. 

He begged off date night with Lori. She didn’t seem to mind, saying she would just go to her parent’s house with Carl for the evening. That was fine by Rick. Their date nights were agonizing, long awkward silences and cold shoulders were usually the main course, with a side of guilt for Rick. 

His good running shoes were missing though. He’d checked everywhere that Lori could have stashed them (shoes were either in the mud room, or the closet in the bedroom and nowhere else). He even checked the backyard and the garage. As he retraced his steps from the last time he remembered seeing them, he realized he must have left them at Shane’s.

“Oh yeah! I think you kicked them under the couch or something. I kept meaning to tell you they were here and I kept forgetting like a dumbass. I’ll be here for a while if you want to come get them.” Shane said when Rick called him.

“That’s good. I’ll be there in a few minutes. Is...uh, is Daryl there?” Rick wasn’t sure he was up to seeing him just yet. He’d done a fine job of avoiding eye contact with Daryl during third period that day and didn’t want to have to try and act like nothing was wrong in front of Shane. 

“Nah, he ran out of here with his toolbox right after we got home from school. Poor kid usually out trying to make money if he’s not in school, practicing or playing. Kinda feel bad he keeps giving me most of his money.”

“You’re still saving it for him though, right?” Rick asked as he juggled his cell phone and grabbed the keys to Lori’s SUV.

“Yeah, man. Ain’t spent a dime. Not sure how I’m gonna convince him to take it when he leaves though.”

Rick chuckled, “We’ll have to figure that out when the time comes.”

He gone ahead and dressed in his running clothes to go over and fetch his shoes. He could take off right outside of Shane’s condo, the woods behind the complex with its walking trails made it perfect for running.

Shane was just getting out of the shower when Rick got there. “Got a hot date?” he asked.

“Oh, yeah. It’s a sure thing too. She practically ripped my shirt off at the DQ on Thursday,” Shane said with a smug smile.

Rick’s eyes went round in fear, “Please tell me you aren’t dating one of the team moms.”

“No way man! At least, not our team,” Shane winked.

Shaking his head, Rick said, “Well, good luck. I wouldn’t want to stir up that hornet’s nest!” 

Rick found his shoes right where Shane said they would be. He put them on before going outside and spending some time warming up, stretching his legs and back. It was a perfect evening for a run, the weather was cooler than it had been for a few weeks and the humidity was low. Warm enough to not need another layer, but still cool enough that he wouldn’t have to worry about heat stroke.

The sun was throwing it’s last rays of orange and pink when Rick got back to Shane’s place. It had been a good run and he’d only stopped to walk twice. He wasn’t sure how far he’d actually gone, but by the burn in his legs and chest, it was far enough.

He was surprised to see Shane sitting at the kitchen table nursing a beer when he went back to grab his wallet and keys that he’d left on the counter. 

“Thought you had a hot date?” Rick asked, using the hem of his shirt to wipe the sweat from his face.

“ _ Apparently,  _ her kid took issue with her mom dating a coach on the opposing team, so she bailed,” Shane said with disgust.

Rick hid a smile behind his hand, “That’s rough man.”

Shane snorted as Rick’s cell phone beeped. It was Lori, texted that she and Carl were going to spend the night with her folks. So much for spending time as a family.

“Looks like I can be your date,” Rick offered as he texted back that he would be at Shane’s place for the night.

“Not until you shower. I can smell your stanky ass from here!” 

Rick laughed and nodded. “Fine, just get me some sweats or something. I don’t have a change of clothes here.”

“I’ll put ‘em in the bathroom for ya,” Shane said as he drained his beer and got up from the table.

Rick showered quickly and washed his hair, noting it was getting a little long. Lori usually made him an appointment to get it cut every six weeks or so since she didn’t care for his curls and preferred it shorn close to his scalp. Maybe it was just a coincidence that she hadn’t said anything for a while. 

He toweled off and pulled on the worn pants and t-shirt that Shane had left on the toilet seat. They were left over from when he and Shane were in college and were soft and a bit worse for wear. It was good they still fit, but then again Shane had been bigger than Rick in college. Although, the t-shirt was pretty snug across Rick’s chest. But it was either that or go shirtless.

It was dark out when Rick came back into the kitchen, still toweling his hair. Shane was on the phone ordering pizza and had put a beer down on the table in front of Rick. The cold bite of the first drink was welcome. He didn’t like to drink too much at home, Lori would purse her lips every time he pulled a beer from the fridge.

Daryl arrived at the same time as the pizza, covered in grease and grime again. Rick tried not to let his gaze linger, he didn’t want to seem like he was checking him out again, but the oil seemed to accentuate Daryl’s strong arms. 

“Hey! Good timing man!” Shane slurred, he was already on the third beer that Rick had seen him drink. He might have had more either before Rick got there or while Rick was in the shower. Hopefully the pizza would sober him up a bit. Shane wasn’t an angry drunk, but he was still a handful.

“Gonna take a shower,” Daryl said as he eyed the pizza.

“Better not,” Rick said as he got plates out of the cabinet, “Shane’s probably gonna try and eat the whole thing. He usually does when he’s drunk. And then he’ll regret it.”

“One time, Rick! One time!” Shane called from under the pizza box lid.

Rick laughed, “More than once! You only remember one time!”

Daryl eyed the two men suspiciously, but went to the kitchen sink to wash his hands and arms as best as he could. 

“Well, you dared me the one time,” Shane said defensively.

“You’d been saying all day you were so damn hungry and then when the pizza arrived you were half plastered and were just gonna drink beer for dinner.”

Shane flipped Rick the bird as he threw his empty beer bottle away. 

“You are gonna have so much fun in college, Daryl,” Shane said as he stuck his head in the refrigerator looking for another beer. “Damn, all the beers gone!”

“Ain’t going to college,” Daryl said as he put two pieces of pizza on a plate.

“What?” Shane asked incredulously. “Daryl, with that arm we can get you into to a good college.”

Rick knew that Daryl had a good arm, and he would do well in college ball, but his academics weren’t there and he was sure that Daryl had never even thought about going to college. Daryl certainly hadn’t taken any college prep courses or taking his SATs.

“Gonna get my ASE certification and start working on cars full time. Got a job lined up as soon as I graduate and finish the season.” 

“You have got to be kiddin’! Man, I’m gonna need another drink,” Shane said with a dramatic sigh.

“Not everybody’s got to go to college,” Daryl said around a mouthful of pizza. “Still need people to put your toilets in and change your oil.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Shane said as he rummaged around in the cabinet above his sink. “Ha! Tequila!"

“Shane. No,” Rick said desperately. Nothing amped up Shane like tequila. 

Daryl turned his head and looked at Rick hard, “It’s his house. And if he wants to drink, then he can drink. ‘Sides, I know how to take care of a drunk.”

Rick grit his teeth, but said nothing. Daryl was right, it was Shane’s house. And both Rick and Daryl were there with him, so the chances of everything going too far south were pretty slim. He hoped.

“Let’s all have one!” Shane cried as he got out three shot glasses.

“You got salt and lime?” Daryl asked.

“Got salt and lemon juice,” Shane said as he opened the refrigerator and pulled out a little lemon shaped bottle.

“I don’t think…” Rick began, but he stopped when he got two steely eyed looks, “Fine. But I’m only having one.”

Shane nodded as he filled each little glass with a generous amount of the clear liquid. Rick reluctantly licked the skin between his thumb and finger and spilled a dash of salt on it. He could see out of the corner of his eye Daryl doing the same.

“How are we gonna do the lim...lemon juice?” Daryl asked.

Shane held up the little bottle, “It’s a squirt bottle, I’ll just give ya a shot!”

Rick closed his eyes and put this in the list of bad ideas that usually involved Shane. He decided he would do the one shot, finish his pizza and get the hell out of there, he didn’t need to stay any longer. Daryl seemed confident he could handle a drunk Shane, and Rick was more than happy to let him.

“Ready?” Shane asked.

“Ready,” Daryl and Rick said in unison.

Lick, drink (Rick shuddered at the sharp tang), and a squirt of lemon juice straight down his throat that made Rick choke.

“Booyah!” Daryl hollered as he slammed his shot glass down.

Shane was already trying to refill their glasses, but Rick put his hand over his, “I’m done. Gotta drive tonight.”

He  _ pfted _ , but Shane didn’t push it. He and Daryl did another round before Daryl begged off too. “I’m a lightweight, man. And I gotta get up early tomorrow.”

shaking his head sadly, Shane took another shot for himself.

“Have you had any pizza yet?” Rick asked Shane, knowing that he hadn’t.

“Oh, shit. Forget to,” Shane said, his slightly garbled words betraying his intoxication. 

Daryl pushed over the plate that Shane had made for himself earlier, the pizza already starting to cool and the cheese to harden.

“Thanks, Dar...yl. You’re a good guy. Best pitcher we ever had. Almost as good as Rick back in the day,” Shane said as he struggled to get the slice of pizza in his mouth.

Daryl shook his head and went back to eating the slice on his plate. Rick was getting nervous and wondered if maybe now was a good time to leave, not wanting to be there if Shane decided to get maudlin about the good old days of college.

“ ‘S good you ain’t goin’ to collage...college,” Shane slurred, “Pledge week would kill ya. Or you’d kill someone.”

“Shane,” Rick hissed through his teeth, starting to regret not leaving as soon as the tequila came out.

“No, no. It’s all good,” Shane waved off Rick. “Nothin’ to be ashamed of. It never bothered me none. I love ya man, always will.”

Rick sent up a silent prayer that the matter would drop. 

“What did you have to do?” Daryl asked, his eyes laser sharp on Rick.

Shane leaned over closer to Daryl and whispered loudly, “Had to get fucked by some of the guys in the fraternity! Right in front of ever’one.”

Rick closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, “Shane, please…”

“Relax man, I told ya, it’s all good,” Shane tried to reassure Rick. But Rick knew it was too late. 

Daryl was staring at Rick as he asked Shane, “Both of you?”

“Oh yeah! It wasn’t that bad, ever’one had to do it. But…  _ shhhhh _ ...don’t tell anyone. But Rick liked it.”

“Shane!”

“What...what was that guy’s name that you hung out with? Jesus?” Shane shook his head slowly,  “No, that ain’t right. That’s what we called ‘em though. ‘Cause he looked like Jesus,” Shane went on, oblivious to the rising tension in the room.

“You had a boyfriend?” Daryl asked too calmly.

“Hey now, don’t be pissy with Rick ‘cause he was gay in collag...college. There ain’t no shame in it and I won’t have ya being a bitch about it to him, you hear me?” Shane admonished, head wavering as he tried to maintain eye contact with Daryl.

“Don’t worry. I won’t,” Daryl said as he scooted his chair back roughly and got up, “I think I’m gonna take my shower now. Good night, Shane.” 

“Night Daryl! You think about what I said about college though, it’d be good for ya. Well, maybe as long as you don’t join a frat!” Shane laughed at his own joke as Daryl shook his head and headed down the hall to the bathroom.

Rick was seething inside, waiting only until the bathroom door shut before turning on Shane,  “Why? Why would you tell him that? And when did he start calling you by your first name?”

“It’s not a big deal, Rick! Lots of people are gay now. He probably won’t even remember because I’m drink. Drunk.”

“You swore you’d never tell anyone! If Lori ever finds out...you know how her family feels about that stuff. Damn it Shane! I don’t need this shit right now! I need to go home,” Rick said angrily.

“Aww, don’t go away mad. Daryl can call you by your name too. He’d like that, ya know,” Shane said as he tried to get up from the table, “He really likes you, ya know. And you’re mean to him and make him sad.”

Rick looked at Shane in astonishment, “I’m not mean to him.”

“You barely talk to him,” Shane said as he finally got out of his chair and stood holding onto it for support.

“There’s a lot of kids on the team, I can’t single him out every practice.”

“Whatever,” Shane flipped his hand in the air dismissively. But that was his undoing as he fell in a heap, pulling the chair down on himself. “Ow,” he said,his voice pitiful. 

Rick sighed and shook his head, “Dumbass. Let’s get you to bed.” He’d be pissed at Shane tomorrow, it wouldn’t do any good right now with him passed out on the floor. Right now he needed to get Shane to bed and then get the hell out of there before Daryl got out of the shower. No way was Rick ready to have that conversation with Daryl. 

It took some doing, but he got Shane on his feet and down the hall in a relatively short time. Rick didn’t bother to do more than take Shane’s shoes off and getting him under the covers. Shane probably wasn’t so drunk that Rick had to worry about him puking in his sleep, but just to be sure, Rick rolled Shane on his side. 

He was just coming out of Shane’s room, leaving the drunk snoring in his bed when he ran into Daryl coming out of the bathroom a towel slung low around his hips, leaving his lean chest and stomach bare. Rick froze like a deer in headlights and was instantly transported back to the last time he’d seen Daryl this way.  _ Bang! Coach! _

Daryl turned to face Rick, his eyes betraying his anger, “You’re a  _ fucking  _ liar, Rick Grimes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OOOhhhhh!!! Rick's got some 'splaining to do!


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daryl is not having any of Rick's shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi. Hi there. Umm, sorry this is so late. I got home and thought I'd nap for an hour and it ended up being ten. Don't ever let anyone tell you that it's easy to fly in a plane all night and you can just sleep.
> 
> ANYWHO....Thank you to my lovely betas 1Lostone and TWDObsessive for making sure this doesn't look like complete crap. They are the best.
> 
> I also want to give a shout out to Justley for being a sounding board over the last few months. She's posting her own Rickyl that, if you haven't already, you should be reading. You'll have to copy and paste the link, I can't get links to work for me anymore on AO3. http://archiveofourown.org/works/11713620/chapters/26381334
> 
> This is a gift for my good friend TWDObsessive, and yes, she does manage to turn almost every conversation to cocks at some point or another, most specifically Rick or Daryl's.

“I didn’t lie to you.” Rick said as calmly as he could despite the wild beating of his heart.

Daryl put a finger in the middle of Rick’s chest, “You are gay. Or at least bi.”

“Shane’s watched too much porn,” Rick said as he pulled Daryl’s finger from his chest, “it wasn’t like what he told you. He was drunk then and he was drunk tonight.”

“So if I ask him again tomorrow, when he’s sober, he’s going to have a different memory?” Daryl’s skepticism evident by the way he held his head, stiff necked and angry.

Rick pinched the bridge of his nose, “As far as I know, Shane didn’t get,” he paused and waved his hand around as he looked for the right word.

“Fucked?” Daryl provided.

Rick sighed and nodded his head.

“But something did happen, right?” Crossing his arms, Daryl asked, “Well if he don’t remember it right, why don’t you tell me?”

“It was Shane’s idea, I didn’t want to get mixed up in all that business. We didn’t even get accepted.”

“So what’d you have to do?” Daryl prompted.”Get a paddlin’?”

“Not really supposed to talk about it, but it was mostly like what you see in the movies.”

“Then why does Shane think you got fucked?”

Biting his lip and looking down the hall towards Shane’s room, Rick took a minute to think about what he was going to say, “I...I did. But it really wasn’t part of the hazing. One of the frat guys, I don’t even remember his name - it wasn’t Paul - was pretending to have sex with me and he...obviously liked it and….”

“You did too?” Daryl asked with an angry cock of his head.

Rick didn’t answer that question,”It got out that I’d hooked up with that guy, so I told Shane it was part of the hazing. All he’d had to do was pretend to give some blow jobs, but like I said, he was drunk, so he thinks he really did do it.”

“So how does Paul come into all of this?”

“You know, I’m done talking about this. It happened a long time ago and I don’t have to explain myself to you.” Rick needed this conversation to be over.

Daryl wasn’t ready to let it go though, his anger resurging,“So you were involved with some guy while you had a girl back home? How fucked up is that?”

“It was only for a semester, Lori’d was still in high school and I think she wanted to go to a dance with a guy back home and I couldn’t be there. I was hurt and Paul...it was just a thing. Nothing earth shattering.”

“So you’re bi?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Praying that Shane would stay asleep, Rick shook his head, “I was in college. I was experimenting. I got back with Lori and I left all that behind. And it still isn’t any of your business.”

“Experimenting? That why you dated a guy? How far did the experiments go? Didn’t  he fuck you?” Daryl asked as he stepped closer, into Rick’s personal space.

“Daryl! Don’t be so crude!” Rick said as he backed up, hitting the wall in the hallway.

“You ain’t gonna deny it, are you? You’re a fucking hypocrite. Telling me I don’t know my own feelings but you’re gonna pretend you never had feelings for a man.” 

“I changed my mind. I married my wife, and she was what I wanted. I ended it. I never did it again. I don’t feel that way anymore!” Rick insisted.

“I don’t believe you. You kissed me back,” Daryl pointed to the bathroom, “Right there in that room, you kissed me back.”

Rick shook his head, “It wasn’t like that...I…” he waved his hand around, trying to find the words to tell Daryl that it was all a mistake.

“You know, they should call you ‘Dick’ instead of ‘Rick’, ‘cause that’s what you are.” Daryl said as he turned and opened the door to his room.

And that’s when Rick saw it. At first it was the tattoo blazoned down the side of Daryl’s back that caught his eye, but then the light from Daryl’s room flashed off the raised marks that littered his back like chemtrails crisscrossing in the sky.

“Daryl…” Rick said in a soft voice, all anger forgotten.

“Shit,” Daryl muttered, his voice strained.

Rick put a hand out and touched Daryl’s shoulder. Daryl shrugged it off and turned to look at Rick, tears filling his eyes.

“Leave it,” he warned.

A step in the small hallway brought Rick closer to Daryl. He reached out a hand to touch him again, but Daryl moved back into his room, his eyes on Rick the whole time, like he didn’t trust that Rick wouldn’t touch him again.

“Don’t,” he said.

“Daryl, why didn’t you tell someone?” Rick asked, his heart constricted so hard in his chest that he had a hard time breathing.

“Nobody’d care,” Daryl said simply.

“I care,” Rick said as he followed Daryl into his room.

“Not enough,” Daryl said.

Rick leaned against the wall in Daryl’s room, “Not true.”

Daryl shook his head, “No, you’re too worried about me having feelings for you."

“Daryl, you’re only eighteen. You have so much time ahead of you to find the right person.”

A tear broke through Daryl’s resolve and snaked a trail down his cheek as he barked out a short laugh, “How old were you when you met your wife?”

Rick blanched and turned away. Looking around the room that still only had the single bed in it, “We’re not talking about me.”

Daryl chuffed, “Hypocrite.”

“I was fifteen, okay?” Rick admitted, still not looking at Daryl, “And we see how well that’s worked out.”

They stood there silently, each in their own drama of misery, until Daryl cleared his throat. ”I need to get finish getting ready for bed, got work tomorrow.”

Rick flicked his eyes to Daryl, looking up and down the hard body, across the wide shoulders and strong arms before tripping over the trail of hair that started haphazardly in the middle of Daryl’s chest and then coalesced above the towel as it dove lower. He licked his lips and then shot an unnerved look at Daryl’s face.

“Fuck,” Daryl hissed.

There was a short beat as Rick realized what he had done and then Daryl was pushing his door closed and turning the light out. The streetlamp from the parking lot filtering in through the blinds leaving enough light to see, even if it was washed out to shades of gray.

Rick’s breath came in long gasps as he watched Daryl pull the towel off, eyes finishing the trail of hair that he’d started just a few minutes ago, skidding to a stop at Daryl’s hardening cock. He nearly fell to his knees when the sharp spike of desire ripped from his belly to his chest, his mind telling him to get out while his body begged him to stay.

Daryl caught and held Rick’s gaze as he stepped closer, daring him to bolt. But Rick was caught. Daryl had all the puzzle pieces now, the last one given up with the flash of desire that Rick had betrayed himself with.

How Rick had never noticed that Daryl was of the same height, he didn’t know. Or maybe he had known and ignored it. But Daryl was standing there, a breath away, naked, willing.

He closed his eyes as Daryl put his hands on either side of his head, digging fingers into Rick’s curls. A sob broke free from his lips as Daryl pressed his body fully against Rick, the thin, worn fabric of the sweats leaving only the slimmest barrier between their bodies. 

“Rick…” Daryl breathed out, the want in his voice thick like a muggy Georgia summer.

Rick’s whole body shook as he thought about what he was allowing, thoughts of his life - family and career - that could fall apart because of this moment. He should fight harder, should push Daryl away like he’d been doing, but Daryl’s hot breath on his neck and warm body pressed against Rick’s made all that seem so far away from what was happening now. 

And Rick’s resolve fell away like like an unanchored building in an earthquake. Sudden, hard, and complete. His long standing wall of denial surrounding him like crumbled brick as he opened his eyes and let Daryl in.

The naked desire in Rick’s eyes was the only invitation that Daryl needed. The kiss was feather soft at first, not desperate like before. Daryl wasn’t begging this time.

Rick let his hands steal up Daryl’s sides, careful not to let his hands roam too far across the broad back. He pulled Daryl closer, molding their bodies together. They fit. They fit like they were made for each other.

Their mouths moved together like they’d been kissing their whole lives, Daryl’s tongue caressing the inside of Rick’s mouth so sweetly that Rick ached from all the time that he’d wasted. It wasn’t long before they were rutting against each other, their erections sliding along each other, hot and wanting.

“Bed,” Daryl growled between kisses.

Rick would have nodded, but he didn’t want to let go. Daryl didn’t seem to either, and maneuvered the two of them to the narrow bed, landing in tangled limbs, Daryl sprawled over Rick. 

It wasn’t frantic or rushed, they didn’t progress further than kissing and grinding against each other. It was good enough. This admittance, was an acceptance of what was always there under the surface of Rick’s brittle facade. 

The old and tattered sweats had worked their way down, past Rick’s waist and were uncomfortably trapping his hard cock. He pushed them down just far enough to free himself, Daryl moaning sinfully at the new sensation of their bare bodies touching.

“Daryl...Don’t stop...” Rick pleaded. 

“Won’t. Want you so much,” Daryl whispered in Rick’s ear.

Rick tried to hook his leg over Daryl, to pull him closer, to grind harder, but his pants were in the way and he was loath to have Daryl stop just to adjust them. He settled for putting both his hands on Daryl’s ass and encouraging harder thrusts.

For their first time, it wasn’t tender or glamorous, but it was raw and passionate. Their kisses were one minute deep and lustful and the next sharp and frenzied. Little whimpers escaped Rick whenever Daryl thrust his hips just right or if a nip at his lip was that much sharper.

Ecstasy wound its way around Rick’s body, tightening with each thrust and nibble from Daryl. It grew and enveloped more and more until it felt like Rick would shatter from it all. Thoughts of why this was a bad idea gone like rats fleeing a sinking ship.

Daryl seemed to be getting closer too, his movements becoming more urgent and focused. All it took for them both to finally succumb was for Daryl to reach between them and grab their cocks and give a hard squeeze. 

Rick’s vision went white as bliss overtook him. He barely registered how Daryl’s body went rigid, or the feel of their combined come as it spilled all over the bottom of Rick’s borrowed t-shirt.

Coming back to himself was like stepping off a roller coaster at the end of the ride. He still felt an extra buzz through his whole body, but his heart rate was slowing and the landscape around him was returning to it’s normal pace. Rick closed his eyes and tried to hold onto the feeling for as long as he could. Reality was steamrolling towards him with each breath.

“Daryl…” 

Something in his voice must have given him away.

“No. Please, just one more minute?” Daryl begged as he held Rick closer. He was splayed across Rick’s body, breathing hard into Rick’s neck.

Rick put both arms around Daryl, careful not to linger on any marks, and held on for as long as he could manage. But he knew it was just pushing off the painful inevitability. 

“Daryl, I’m...I’m sorry,” he whispered, “For causing you pain. And, I’m sorry for allowing it to get this far.”

Daryl lifted his head and met Rick’s gaze, “Don’t. Please. I’ve never...not anyone…” a small sob escaped him, “You’re the only person I’ve even ever thought of like this. And if you make it a mistake, make it wrong...I won’t have anyone.”

The crush of pain nearly broke Rick, but Daryl was young, he could find someone else. He had plenty of time. Rick allowed himself to kiss Daryl, slow and tender, before pulling back and letting his arms fall away from Daryl’s back. 

“I can’t, Daryl. This  _ is  _ wrong. I should have done better by you.”

Rick felt a tear splash onto his face. 

“Why? Why can’t you love me?” The anguish in Daryl’s voice pulled a sob from Rick.

“Daryl, I do care about you…”

“No!” Daryl jerked himself off of Rick and picked up his discarded towel to wrap around himself.

Rick sat up in the bed and pulled up his sweats and pulled off the dirtied t-shirt before addressing Daryl, “Damn it, Daryl! Why can’t you understand? I’m married. I have a kid. I have a career that I love. This is wrong.”

Daryl stood with his back to Rick, “It doesn’t feel wrong to me.”

“The tequila…” Rick began, but Daryl cut him off.

“ONE! You had one and I had two, don’t blame it on the alcohol. You wanted this as much as me.”

“You’re not the one who will lose his whole life over this,” Rick explained. “You’ll find someone, Daryl. I know you will. You’re a great guy. Loyal and smart and just  _ so  _ strong. And I can’t see no one not wanting that.”

“I’ve never, ever, wanted anyone before you,” Daryl confessed.

“I don’t believe that,” Rick said as he stood up.

Daryl turned to look at Rick, the tracks of his tears making twin lines down his face, “No one. Ever. Not any girly mags, no porn on the computer, no guys in the locker room. No. One. Ever.”

Rick felt the truth of those words deep in his bones. He thought about the cold bed he was going to go home to, the one that was cold even with two people in it. He thought about the way Daryl looked at him with nothing but love and adoration - when Daryl would even look at him - and how he could just say yes and fall into this thing that was happening between them.

But then he thought about Carl, and Shane, and all the boys on the baseball team that had worked so hard to get where they were right now - just a few games away from going to state and making a good showing.  

“You care about me? You love me?” Rick asked.

Daryl squeezed his eyes shut to hold back another wave of tears and nodded his head.

“Then don’t do this to me. Don’t ruin my life. I’m not saying that if circumstances were different I wouldn’t want this as much as you do Daryl. But please,” Rick choked on his own sob, “if you care about me, let me be.”

Daryl fell to his knees, a long moan of pain ripped from deep in his body. Rick wanted to go to him, to comfort him, but he knew he couldn’t.

“Please Daryl, tell me. Tell me you care enough to let me go,” Rick was desperate, shamelessly manipulating Daryl’s feelings.  

Making no attempt to hide his face or wipe away his tears, Daryl looked at Rick, pain so bright it was nearly blinding. His hands in tight fists, he finally nodded. 

Rick nodded back, “Good. Good. We’ll just go on like nothing happened. It’s just a few weeks and then you won’t have to see me any more. Okay?”

Daryl flinched as though Rick had hit him, “That ain’t what I want.”

“It’s what will have to be, you’ll understand some day, I know you will,” Rick said with as much certainty as he could muster. 

Daryl took a long studdering breath, “Just go.” 

“Daryl…”

“ _ GO!” _ Daryl screamed.

Rick didn’t wait any longer. He jerked opened the bedroom door and bolted out, thankful that Shane wouldn’t wake with as much tequila as he’d had.

Rick didn’t even think about it, just grabbed his keys and wallet from the counter and got in the SUV and drove straight home. He was in his driveway before he knew it, opening the garage door and pulling in, the space where his truck used to sit still empty.

He let his head fall on the steering wheel as he tried to come to grips with the horrible mistake he’d made. The first one was not recognizing how deeply Daryl felt about him and not stopping it. But, heaven help him, he should have never been alone with the boy in his bedroom. 

Putting a hand to his heart to try and contain the pain, he realized he’d left without his shirt. And had left Shane’s covered in come lying on Daryl’s bedroom floor. He could only pray that Shane wouldn’t find it and put two and two together. There was no way that Rick was going to go back and deal with it. Hopefully Daryl would take care of it before Shane noticed. 

He ran a hand down his chest and realized he had some dried spunk matted in his hair. With a grimace he got out of the truck and headed straight for the shower.

The water was as hot as he could stand it, his skin turning pink and then red. And he just stood there, hoping for numbness. But it wouldn’t come. All he felt was pain and heartache. He collapsed under the weight of it, great wracking sobs shaking his body, his cries echoing around the room. 

Because one thought kept coming back; something he couldn’t seem to escape.  He  _ did _ want Daryl. Wanted him mind, body, and spirit. And he knew that he could never have him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, just like last time, pitchforks to the right and torches to the left, thank you. 
> 
> Shout out to TexasDragonSlayer for hitting the nail on the head, Rick is drowning in his morals.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rick can't find a truck he likes, and he can't find the off switch to thoughts about Daryl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First, thank you everyone for the lovely comments. I can't believe we're already over 5k hits! I remember it took my first fic forever to reach 1k and I was super excited for that, and for you all to be so invested in this, really means a lot to me. So, thank you.
> 
> And, thank you to my super awesome betas 1Lostone and TWDObessive, who spent many a day convincing me this wasn't crap. Truly. 
> 
> Shout out to KatyTheInspiredWorkaholic for always encouraging me. She's the best.
> 
> This is a gift for the wonderfully funny TWDObsessive. If you ever wonder what Rick and Daryl actually look like buck naked, she'll tell you. In detail.

Rick spent the rest of the night rebuilding the wall around his emotions. Not letting a single light through. Doing everything he can to focus on his family. Being a father, an upstanding member of society, and a teacher was something that Rick felt defined him as a man. He wasn’t willing to let that go so easily.

He hadn’t really slept, not with struggling with his roiling thoughts. And then he’d been overwhelmed with them just as the sun was peeking over the horizon and had thrown up again, the taste of bile and tequila sharp and mirroring his feelings. The night before just wouldn’t leave him, moments that he’d like to forget popping up when he least expected them, like weeds jumping up in the cracks of the sidewalk. 

Lori and Carl got home just as Rick was stepping out of the shower. He’d felt clammy and sweaty after he’d finished vomiting and needed to try and feel clean again. Lori averted her eyes when Rick strolled into the room in a towel tied around his hips. 

“You’re taking Carl to his game, right?” she asked.

Rick nodded as he rummaged in his drawer for clean underwear and socks. There was no way his voice wasn’t hoarse. Not after last night.

“I know you didn’t like the dealership,” Lori said as she made the bed, “Maybe you can look on the computer when you get home and find something you like.”

He paused while putting on his jeans. It had been a month or so. More than enough time to find a new truck. And it wasn’t fair to Lori. She needed her vehicle too. And Shane. And Shane’s other regular passenger.

A flash of Daryl standing naked and willing in the darkened room caught Rick unguarded. He shivered as he fought down his body’s response, instead trying to focus on Lori and what she wanted him to do. 

Clearing his throat he replied, “Yeah. I can do that.”

The gnawing guilt was eating away at him. He’d betrayed his wife and jeopardized his marriage. But he wouldn’t do it again. Daryl had understood, or at least said he’d understood. They would go back to being teacher and student and put the incident behind them.

_ “Rick….” Daryl’s hot breath and warm body pressed against him. _

Lori finished making the bed and stopped to look at the wall blankly, as though she were looking for a clue as to what to say next. Rick couldn’t think of a single thing to say to her that wouldn’t sound like he was trying too hard. 

Luckily, Carl came bounding into the room, “C’mon daddy! I don’t want to be late! Patrick is gonna bring his new walkie talkies! We’re gonna pretend we’re hidin’ from monsters!”

Rick smiled warmly at his son, “Just let me get my shirt on. Wouldn’t want you to be late for hiding from monsters. You got your shin guards?”

Carl’s eyes went round, “Oh no! They’re in my room!”

Rick chuckled as his son scampered out of the room. But his smile faded when he looked towards his wife. She was looking at him, but it felt like she was looking through him instead.

_ Daryl, on his knees, tears in his eyes. _

He put his shirt on and grabbed his shoes. This was the part where he’d normally give her a peck on the cheek on the way out, but he just didn’t have it in him and she didn’t seem like she wanted it anyway.

Pausing in the door he said, “I’ll come right home after the game. And I’ll spend the rest of the afternoon looking for a new truck. Maybe I’ll find one that we can go look at after church.”

She nodded her head and turned to him and gave a faint smile.

_ “Why? Why can’t you love me?” _

\----

They got to the game in enough time that Carl and Patrick got to hide from monsters for a good ten minutes before Coach Abe rounded them up for warm ups. The walkie talkies were a hit with the other kids too, Patrick having to promise a few of them a chance to play with them after the game.

Rick fielded a few folks that were following the baseball team’s season. Mostly congratulations, but others wanted to know about the prized pitcher and where he’d come from and why he’d never played before.

_ Daryl reaching between them and grabbing their cocks.  _

He tried to keep his answers short and not reveal too much about Daryl and, by extension, his home life. Daryl wouldn’t appreciate Rick telling all and sundry about his personal life. And of course Rick felt the sharp tang of his guilt every time someone mentioned Daryl’s stoic persona. Especially now that Rick knew that Daryl would never have put himself on display except to get into Rick’s orbit.

Coach Abe even motioned for Rick to stand with the coaches, talking strategy with Rick while trying to keep ten four and five year olds running in the right direction and occasionally kicking a ball.

“That Daryl sure is the prize bull on your team. Kid shoulda been playing since little league.”

“He couldn’t afford to play until he got a job and paid for it himself,” Rick explained.

Abe turned and gave Rick a knowing look, “Kid sounds like a helluva man.”

Rick turned and looked for Carl out on the field, hoping the coach wouldn’t see Rick’s cheeks redden, “He is.”

Carl’s team won the game and so they were going to get pizza. Rick couldn’t make himself eat it. 

_ “... _ _ if you make it a mistake, make it wrong...I won’t have anyone.” _

Shane texted while Rick was driving home. A simple,  _ I am so sorry man. I’ll make it up to you! didn’t mean to pass out on you like that. _

Rick wasn’t sure what to reply with. Didn’t know if he should be angry at Shane or sad or apologize to him for what had happened later. So he didn’t reply. Shane wouldn’t read too much into it, knowing that he would still see Rick on Monday.

Lori hustled Carl upstairs for a shower while Rick fired up the computer. He tried searching for trucks with manual transmissions first, but the only ones he could find were either much older than the one he was replacing or just looked like garbage. High mileage, rusted beds, and bent frames seemed to be the norm even for the ones with automatic transmissions in Rick’s price range. He really didn’t want to take on a big payment. And apparently, Rick’s truck was the last year that you could get a manual transmission in a truck. 

The new trucks were way out of his price range, even with the money the insurance company had given him for his old truck. When he looked at estimating the monthly cost it was far more than he could afford. 

_ “It doesn’t feel wrong to me.” _

He thought maybe he should switch to a car, or a minivan. It would be easier to transport equipment and an occasional kid if he needed to. The thought of him driving a minivan for any reason made a shudder of revulsion ripple through his body. 

After changing the parameters on his search, he found a few trucks that would be acceptable. Smaller, or with more mileage, or older, but within his budget. He printed out the pages for them and set them aside to plan for Sunday. He’d have to visit a couple of dealerships to see them all.

He still wished he knew where his truck actually was. He missed it. 

\----

The sermon on Sunday was about betrayal. It was almost as if the pastor would know what was in Rick’s heart before he got to church each week. Lori gave him several sharp looks as he squirmed in his seat. He couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

_ “So you were involved with some guy while you had a girl back home?” _

Visiting the dealerships proved to be fruitless. One salesman ‘couldn’t find the keys’ for the truck that Rick wanted to look at, but had a newer, more expensive truck that Rick could look at if he wanted. Rick didn’t.

The next truck that Rick went to see wouldn’t even start. It was at a small dealership that seemed so sketchy that it could be up and gone in a day if it needed to be. They drug out a battery charger, and it finally turned over, but for the price that they wanted, Rick didn’t want to invest in getting it fixed. Besides the fact that thinking about taking it to a mechanic made him think of Daryl and and the oil and grime that had been all over his strong arms.

_ Daryl pressed his body fully against Rick, the thin, worn fabric of the sweats leaving only the slimmest barrier between their bodies. _

At the third place they’d sold the truck the day before. Of course they had several on the lot they’d be more than willing to show Rick.

“I can’t believe it’s this hard to find a truck, Rick.” Lori said as they drove to the next dealership, her frustration leaching through her statement. 

“You haven’t seen how much they want for a new truck either.”

She turned to look at him, “Surely they gave you enough from the insurance on the old one for a good down payment at least?”

Rick shook his head, “They barely gave me enough to cover a couple of month’s payments and the added insurance a new truck would have.” 

“Oh, I guess the insurance would be higher for a new truck.”

“Yeah,” Rick said distractedly.

_ “You wanted this as much as me.” _

His phone rang as they pulled into the dealership. He let it ring. Whatever it was could wait until he had a minute.

But whoever it was, they weren’t going to be denied, as soon as the phone finished ringing, it started again. Rick sighed and looked ruefully at Lori.

“Guess they really want to talk to you,” she said with a shake of her head.

“Guess so.”

The phone was on it’s third go around when Rick got out of the SUV and answered it. 

Shane’s frantic voice started as soon as Rick answered, “Rick! What the fuck did you do to Daryl last night? He tells me he’s quitting the team and moving out!”

“What? What are you talking about? He didn’t say anything about quitting the team!” Rick said frantically.

_ Daryl flinched as though Rick had hit him, “That ain’t what I want.” _

Lori looked at Rick with open hostility. She obviously didn’t want Rick dealing with anything to do with the baseball team right now.

“I don’t know. I got up this morning and he had a bag packed and had all his stuff ready to go. I think I talked him into staying until graduation, so we don’t have to worry about that. But damn, we need his arm if we’re gonna get through the playoffs,” Shane said in a rush.

Rick nodded at the salesman that came bounding up with a false smile and a hand stuck out for a handshake. Lori glowered some more, but told the man what they were after. Luckily, Rick had brought all the printouts and had shown Lori the one they were after at this dealership. 

_ “Just go.” _

“Listen, Shane, if you can keep him there, maybe you can talk some sense into him. I’m kinda tied up right now and won’t be able to come over.” 

The grin on the salesman’s face faltered when he looked at the sheet Lori gave him. He asked them to come into the salesroom floor while he looked for the truck for them. Rick wasn’t interested in the mediocre coffee or the golf game playing on the big screen TV in the lounge. He just wanted to look at the truck and go, keeping Daryl, keeping him on the team, that was more important right now. 

“Rick, don’t you think I tried? I’m gonna just piss him off if I keep at it. I know he looks up to you more, I think you need to come over and try and talk some sense into him.”

“Where is he now?” Rick asked as he paced in front of the wall of glass that was the front of the building.

Shane let out a long breath, Rick could just imagine that he was rubbing a hand along the back of his neck, “He said he had a job changing out a radiator or something. He left his stuff here other than his tool box, so I’m sure he’ll be back.”

“Well, there’s nothing I can do right now then. I can come by later or I can talk to him tomorrow at lunch.”

_ “No one. Ever. Not any girly mags, no porn on the computer, no guys in the locker room. No. One. Ever.” _

Lori was in the lounge with Carl who was playing at a little Lego table. At least all these places had stuff for kids to do to keep them busy. She was keeping one eye on Carl and one on Rick. They were all getting tired, and it was close to dinner, it was a good thing this was the last truck that Rick had come to see today.

“Oh, man. If you could come by tonight, that would be great,” Shane said with relief. “I don’t know if you can convince him in what little time ya got at lunch.” 

The salesman was coming back with a set of keys and a stack of papers. “Listen, I really have to go. I’ll call you back in a few hours and see where we’re at. Okay?” Rick said as he caught the salesman’s eye.

“Yeah, okay brother. I don’t know when he’ll be back, but he usually is here in time for dinner.”

_ “No. Please, just one more minute?” _

“Okay, Shane. I’ll get it straightened out, don’t worry. Just let me get done here and get Lori and Carl home.” Rick said as he held up a finger to the salesman.

“Talk to you then,” Shane said before hanging up.

Rick ended the call and smiled brightly at the salesman, “Do you have the truck?”

\---

The truck was fine. It wasn’t rusted out, it didn’t have any drips. The truck didn’t lean or look askew. The mileage wasn’t bad and they weren’t asking too much for it. But it just didn’t feel right. Even after they’d taken it for a test drive. 

Rick wasn’t sure if it was because it was an automatic transmission or because it just didn’t seem to have any personality to it. The truck was gray, the interior was gray and so was the paint job. It didn’t have any extra doodads that Rick wouldn’t use anyway. It didn’t sit up too high or have tires that were too big. It was just a truck. 

_ They fit. They fit like they were made for each other. _

Lori was ready to sign the papers right then, but Rick wanted to wait a day or two. Of course the salesman told Rick that he was the third person in that day to look at that truck, but Rick didn’t believe that for a moment. 

“Let’s just go,” he said to Lori after the salesman tried to convince Rick to take the truck home for the night.

“Rick,” she said with a plastic smile for the benefit of the man behind the desk, “I think you should take it home and drive it to work tomorrow. Maybe that will change your mind.”

_ “I’ve never, ever, wanted anyone before you.” _

He rubbed his hands vigorously over his face before answering her, “I don’t think I’m going to change my mind. I’m tired and it’s near suppertime and I’m sure that Carl has had enough for the day.”

Carl really did look like he was ready to go home. He was in his mother’s lap, his head on her shoulder, fighting to keep his eyes open. He’d been especially good today, thank goodness, but Rick knew it would take another hour to get out of there if they didn’t get up and walk away right then.

So he stood up and motioned Lori to go ahead of him. Her mouth compressed to a thin line, but she did it.

_ “How old were you when you met your wife?” _

He called Shane as soon as they got back in the SUV. Daryl was back and was in his room, possibly brooding, but he was there. 

Lori narrowed her eyes and looked at Rick, “You can’t possibly be planning on going back out tonight after we get home.”

“I have to. Daryl wants to quit the team. And he’s our best pitcher,” Rick said, trying to remain patient.

“You don’t have to do anything, Rick. Why can’t this wait until tomorrow?” She huffed.

“Because I won’t have enough time to talk to him tomorrow. And he’s very important to the team. And I’m the coach and it’s my responsibility.”

Lori pursed her lips again, but didn’t say anything else as they left the lot. 

The rest of the ride home was quiet. Carl asleep in the back and Lori staring out the window. Rick was lost in his own thoughts. Thoughts of Daryl. 

_ “Want you so much.” _

He knew he had to go over there tonight to convince Daryl to stay on the team. The hard part would be doing it without Shane figuring out why Daryl was so ready to quit in the first place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Rick can't forget about the other night with Daryl, and now he has to go convince Daryl to stay on the team. How do you think that's going to shake out?


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ohhh, Daryl is a sneaky one. But he might get more than he bargained for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ya'll leave me the best comments! (And emails, and dm's...). 
> 
> Thank you to my wonderful, amazing, triumphant betas. 1Lostone and TWDObsessive are treasures. Seriously. 
> 
> Also, big thanks to KatyTheInspiredWorkaholic....again...for telling me this isn't shit. lol
> 
> This is a gift for my dear, dirty-minded friend, TWDObsessive. She's the best. 
> 
> You know, I spend a long time trying to make this comments PG and then I write smut...lol, I wonder why I do that?

Lori had made him wait until after dinner, reminding Rick he’d promise the pastor he’d be home as much as possible. She spent the time trying to convince Rick not to go, but he knew that Shane would expect him. By the time he left there was nothing but cold silence between the two of them.

It was a nice night, so Rick had the windows down and the radio going on the way over. Lori had it on a pop station. Halfway to Shane’s a song came on that had a man with a high tenor voice begging a married man to stay with him. Rick turned the radio off.

Shane opened the door before Rick had even finished knocking, “He’s in his room. Says he’s doing homework, he doesn’t want to screw up graduating, so he’s willing to stay for that. But the baseball’s a different story.  Rick, you gotta fix this. I don’t know what happened after I went to bed the other night, but he said you’d know why he was quittin’.”

“I guess I pushed him too hard on going to college,” Rick said evasively.

“Man, I know I pushed him too, we should know that kid isn’t going to college. He’s got a plan. And that’s more than a lot of kids do, even the ones going to college, but it’s not more school.”

“Yeah, I know. Look, I’ll go talk to him,” Rick motioned towards Daryl’s closed bedroom door. “Ya’ll have dinner? Maybe you can run out and get something?”

Shane nodded his head, “I can do that. He likes DQ burgers, I’ll go over and get him a couple and some fries. Oh and a Blizzard. Maybe that will sweeten the deal.”

Rick gave a short nod, “Good idea.”

Shane grabbed his keys and gave Rick a short wave, “Be back in a bit.”

There was no way that Daryl didn’t know Rick was there. For one, Shane didn’t really have an inside voice. And for two, Shane can’t leave a room without slamming a door.

Rick took a deep breath and went to knock on Daryl’s door. He did it firmly, so that Daryl wouldn’t think Rick was afraid. Or nervous.

There was no answer, so Rick knocked again, this time saying Daryl’s name in his best teacher’s voice. That seemed to do the trick, as the door was suddenly yanked open and a very hostile Daryl stood there.

But he wasn’t looking at Rick, his head turned to look just to the left of Rick’s shoulder.

“C’mon Daryl, don’t be like that. Let’s talk this out like men.” Daryl’s eye twitched, but he still wouldn’t look Rick in the face, “That means you have to look at me,” Rick said firmly.

Daryl bit his lip and stood up taller before letting his eyes wander up to meet Rick’s. It was obvious that Daryl was holding his emotions in check with all his might. His jaw was clenched and his eyes were narrow slits.

“I don’t want to hear what you have to say,” Daryl said, his voice steady and flat.

Rick cocked his head to the side, “Daryl, please. You’re not just punishing me by quitting the team.”

Daryl turned and walked back into his room and sat on his bed where he had a school book and notebook out, but didn’t reply to Rick. He pulled the notebook onto his lap and started writing in it, still pretending that he was alone in his room.

Walking into the room was hard, all Rick could think about was what had happened here less than forty-eight hours earlier. The remorse and desire of the memory clamoring around fighting for dominance in his mind.  He made a conscious effort to stay near the doorway.

“Daryl, listen. There’s only one more game in regular season and then we get to start the playoffs. Now I know it’s not that big of a deal for you, but for the other kids, the other seniors, it’s a very big deal. And you are a huge part of why the team is even in the position to do this.”

“Don’t try that guilt bullshit on me,” Daryl said, shaking his head, his focus still on his paper. “Ron and Jimmy can throw just as good as I can. Don’t need me and you know it.”

Rick sighed and ran a hand through his hair, “Daryl, Shane is the one that called me to come over here. And Shane is the one that is losing his shit. And you know why? Because you’re the best pitcher we’ve ever seen. Yes, Ron and Jimmy are good, and will get better, but you _are_ the best pitcher on the team.” He let his hands settle on his hips, arms akimbo, “Now, we’ve made peace with the fact that you don’t want to go to college, but at least finish out this season.”

Daryl squeezed the pencil in his hand so hard that it broke in two. Rick took that as a sign that he was getting through to him. Knowing he was on the edge of pushing too hard, Rick turned the screws tighter.

“Aaron has never gotten past the first round of the playoffs. This will be the first year he gets to, but the only way that I know that will happen is if you are our pitcher.” It probably wasn’t ethical to pile on the guilt like he was, but Rick wouldn’t be able to explain to Shane why Daryl had left the team.

Flinging his book off his bed with an angry swipe of his arm, Daryl turned to Rick, “Stop! I get it. I’m letting everyone down. It won’t be the first time. They’ll get over it.”

Rick forgot about staying by the door and swiftly went to Daryl and got on his knees next to the bed so that he could look Daryl in the eye as he spoke, “Daryl, please. You and I both know that isn’t true. You’ve never let me down before and I know you really don’t want to let the rest of the team down.”

Daryl blinked hard, trying to regain his composure. His head was bowed, breath hard and steady, hands clenched into fist, all in an attempt to calm himself.

Rick went on, “What about Coach Walsh? Shane? After he’s taken you in?”

Daryl narrowed his eyes, “I pay my way!”

“I know that,” Rick said with a nod of his head, “I do. But you were planning on sleeping in the woods and he couldn’t let that happen, and neither could I.”

He wasn’t sure how it happened, but Rick’s hand was on Daryl’s knee.

“Ya’ll wouldn’t have known if I hadn’ta told ya,” Daryl said.

Rick looked down at his hand and willed it to move, but it didn’t. Just flexed and squeezed Daryl’s leg, “We would have figured it out.”

Daryl put his hand over Rick’s and just let it sit there. “I...I could stay. On the team,” Rick looked up hopefully, “If…” Daryl let his hand caress Rick’s, “If I knew you were serious about me staying.”

Pulling his hand away as though it had caught fire, Rick stood up and paced over to the open door. He closed his eyes and tried to compose himself before answering, “You know I can’t. You know I could lose my job. My family. Daryl, we’ve been over this.”

Daryl got off the bed and walked over to Rick, “I don’t want you to lose your job. But I need something to hold onto. To know that I’m not crazy. And, I don’t know if I’ll ever...I don’t know if that was the only time I’ll ever be with someone.”

“What do you want, Daryl?” Rick asked guardedly.

“I want...I want to know that you think I’m important. That I matter.”

Rick turned to look at Daryl, “You know you matter to me.”

“Show me,” Daryl stepped closer, “Show me, and I’ll stay on the team.”

“What do you want?” Rick asked again, he turned and looked at the door, “Shane will be back soon. He can’t...I don’t want to think what would happen if he...”

Daryl sighed and slumped back down on the bed, “I just want a kiss. Not a lame ass kiss, a real kiss. Let me know you care,” he requested, his head raised, as though ready for a denial.

“Just this one time, Daryl. And I don’t even want to hear a hint about it again. Agreed?”

Daryl nodded his head in that way he did, chin first.

Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Rick got on his knees again and leaned into Daryl’s space. His eyes searched Daryl’s, but he could see no gile there, just open and pure want that made Rick feel shame for all that he’d put Daryl through. He would make this good for Daryl, Rick owed him that.

Threading his hands through Daryl’s long, soft hair, Rick pulled him closer. Another look full of meaning passed between them before Rick’s lips touched Daryl’s. The beating of his heart drowned out any sound that Rick may have made, but it couldn’t cover how kissing Daryl made Rick feel like everything shifted into place after a long time of being jumbled out of place.

He’d planned on counting to thirty and ending the kiss, but somewhere around ‘ten’ Daryl wrapped his arms around Rick and all thoughts of counting went out the window. Daryl was warm and pliable. Not soft, not unblemished, but  extraordinary just the same. The heat of a fire after being in the cold for too long.

Daryl slowly relaxed back on the bed, Rick following, pulling himself up on the bed, not wanting to end the kiss. It was more than Rick had expected, his whole body was burning. Rick hadn’t let go of Daryl, his hands still grasped tightly to the feeling of rightness they held. Daryl’s hands roamed along Rick’s back, touches that Rick felt deep inside him.  

Nothing else mattered right now, except this moment with Daryl. All other thoughts were gone, no baseball, no school, not even Lori. Just wanting this _thing_ with Daryl.

Their cocks were hard now, rubbing through their clothes. That wasn’t enough for Rick this time. He didn’t even know how the thought came into being, but he needed to know how Daryl would taste. Wanted it so much.

Breaking the kiss, he slithered down Daryl’s body and back to his knees, reaching for the button on Daryl’s jeans. Rick paused and stared at where his fingers were working. Reality jolted through him for a moment. He shouldn’t be doing this, even if it made him forget about what was right and wrong, it would have to be just this one time and then they could go back to where they were before. And Rick could move on and be done with this, and not think about it ever again.

With a sharp intake of breath, Daryl closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall.

“You’ll want to watch,” Rick said, his voice rough as he unzipped Daryl’s pants.

“I do, but I want to last longer than three seconds,” Daryl said breathlessly.

“You did fine the other night,” Rick said as he nuzzled into the V of Daryl’s jeans. He’d forgotten how good a man could smell.

“I jacked off in the shower, didn’t know that we were gonna...you know.”

Rick barked out a quick laugh. Daryl must have taken offence, because he thrust his hips into Rick. He quirked an eyebrow, but then remembered that Daryl wasn’t looking.

“I’ll make sure it lasts longer than three seconds.”

“How’re you gonna… _shit!_ ”

Rick had put his mouth on Daryl’s underpants and sucked at his erection. He still hadn’t freed Daryl’s cock, instead taking his time. This would probably be the very last time Rick was ever intimate with a man, and he wanted to remember it for his own selfish reasons.

He dusted off the memories of college, when he’d been with Paul. They used to spend days in bed together, just lazily making out and having sex. Rick had probably been the same age as Daryl then. He’d turned eighteen over the summer right before he’d gone off to school. He’d only been with Paul for his first semester.

“Rick…” Daryl moaned out long and low. Daryl saying his name that made Rick forget all about how wrong this was.

After making Daryl’s briefs near translucent with all of the licking and sucking that he’d done, Rick relented and pulled Daryl’s cock free.

It was beautiful. Perfect even. He hadn’t really gotten a good look at it the other night in the darkened bedroom, and that had only been a moment. But now it was right in front of his face, hard and flushed. A little larger than his own, and straining towards him.

“Daryl,” Rick whispered, “Watch.”

Keeping his eyes tightly closed, Daryl shook his head, “Tellin’ ya, I won’t last long.”

Throwing the dice, Rick used his best coach voice, “Daryl, I said ‘Watch’.”

Daryl slowly opened eyes that were glazed with lust. They barely looked focused as they fell to where Rick was looking up at Daryl

Making sure that he had Daryl’s full attention, Rick let just the tip of his tongue flick the slit of Daryl’s cock.

“ _Shit_ ,” Daryl ground out between clenched teeth.

Putting his hands on Daryl’s thighs to hold him steady, Rick settled his mouth around the tip of Daryl’s cock and suckled.

Daryl made a mewling sound as his hands came up and grabbed Rick’s hair. It would have been fine if Daryl hadn’t tugged just that tiny bit. Rick felt the tug all the way to his dick. _Fuck it_ he thought, and he let go of Daryl’s thighs long enough to pull his own, hard leaking cock out.

His mouth worked its way along Daryl as his hand worked his own cock. He’d promised Daryl that he would last longer than three seconds, but Rick wasn’t sure if he would be able to last that long. Not with the way Daryl was looking at Rick.

Rick slowed down his frantic pulling on himself and squeezed hard at the base. He did the same to Daryl. That seemed to help, the tide of his orgasm fell back.

Taking a deep breath in, Rick sucked Daryl all the way down, until Daryl hit the back of his throat. He allowed himself to gag on it, it had been a long time since he’d done this, but he remembered the good parts. The feel of a warm cock on his tongue, the feeling of being overwhelmed with lust, and the smell of a man’s arousal.

Daryl was moaning continuously now as Rick worked up and down his cock, sucking and nipping as best he could. The hands in Rick’s hair helping to keep the rhythm just the way he wanted it. Rick reveled in it, he’d forgotten how much he loved having another man be in control of sex.

Teeth firmly tucked behind his lips, Rick let his mouth glide up and down Daryl’s long cock, pausing at the bottom to breath in the rich smell of him and let Daryl’s pubic hairs tickle his nose. He released the firm grip he had around the base of Daryl’s cock so that he could fondle his tight balls instead.

“Rick...gonna make me come,” Daryl ground out.

Pulling off with a loud slurp, Rick growled out, “Come on my face.”

Daryl’s eyes grew round and his whole body tensed up as he grabbed himself and pumped until long white spurts of come painted stripes across Rick’s lips and cheeks, catching some over an eye.

“Jesus fucking Christ!” Daryl swore.

Rick closed his eyes and pulled hard on his own erection and came with the smell of Daryl’s release filling his nose. He felt that buzz again. The one that felt like he’d just hit the bottom of a huge drop on a roller coaster. He held his eyes closed so that he could hold onto it for just that much longer.

Daryl dropped to his knees in front of Rick and kissed him hard, not even caring about the come all over Rick’s face. Rick allowed it and kissed Daryl back, letting his hands twist in Daryl’s hair.

They broke apart and Rick started to wipe his face, but Daryl brushed his hand away and, with open mouthed kisses and laving with his tongue, cleaned Rick’s face. When he was satisfied, he went lower and cleaned off Rick’s cock.

If Rick had been as young as Daryl, that alone would have gotten him ready again, as it was, he would need a few minutes. Not that they were going to do anything else. Ever.

“We need to get cleaned up before Shane gets back,” Rick whispered to Daryl.

Daryl bit his lip and nodded his head.

“We can’t do this again, Daryl. Please, you must know that,” Rick said as he got to his feet and adjusted his pants.

“Yeah, I know. I promise I’ll let you be now,” he held up a hand, “And I’ll stay on the team. You can tell Shane that I was just freaking out about going to the playoffs.”

Rick held Daryl’s head between his hands, “You sure? We’re done with this now?”

Daryl nodded again, his eyes averted. Rick couldn’t help it, he leaned in and stole a long lingering kiss. “Daryl, if things were…”

He didn’t get to finish his sentence because the front door slammed and Shane’s voice boomed around the condo, “I got hot DQ burgers and icy cold DQ blizzards! Who wants ‘em!”

Rick smiled at Daryl and opened the door and sent Daryl to the kitchen while he went to the bathroom. He needed to wash his face. One thing he knew about being friends with Shane his whole life was that Shane could smell sex from a mile away.

And Rick sure as hell didn’t need that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohhhh, Rick, Rick, Rick...


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rick is conflicted, and...well...frankly, he's horny.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You all are the best. I'm stupidly afraid I'll let you down, but then TWDObsessive, Justley, KatyTheInspiredWorkaholic, and 1Lostone, as well as several others tell me you all wouldn't love this fic for no reason. So, thank you for all your lovely comments (and DMs, emails, and Tumblr asks and comments). 
> 
> Thank you to 1Lostone and TWDObsessive for betaing. They keep me on the straight and narrow (and cheer for the smut).
> 
> This is a gift for my buddy TWDObsessive. She is very much so obsessed with Rick and Daryl, especially if they are having sex.

A week had passed and Rick was confident that he’d managed not to tip anyone off. He hadn’t given Daryl any lingering looks, hadn’t touched him, hadn’t even spoken to him more than normal. Daryl had played along too, not that he’d changed his behavior any. Rick certainly hadn’t had a clue before this season that Daryl had a thing for him.

They won their game on Thursday and on Friday it was announced they would be going to the playoffs. They would have to replay some of the teams in their district, mainly Alexandria, but they would worry about that later. For now Rick was focused on graduation.

Six of the kids were graduating, and Rick couldn’t be prouder of them. Besides Aaron, two other boys were going on to college with some sort of scholarship. One was going into the military and one was going to a trade school. Daryl and another boy were the only two that were going to go right into working after they were done.

Everything was fine.

Graduation day was warm and the skies were clear. A beautiful day, too bad they would be packed into an auditorium sweating while blow hards waxed poetic about milestones. Lori hadn’t come, of course. She’d been to the first couple, but now that this was Rick’s eighth (ninth?), the novelty had worn off. Now it was something to be endured. Well except for having the pride of knowing he’d had a hand in the shaping of a person.

He felt his eyes tear up as Daryl’s name was called. Daryl strode quickly to the superintendent of schools and shook hands and took his diploma. He didn’t look around to find a family member or even seem to notice that no one from the assembled crowd had applauded for him like all of the other seniors. 

Rick and all the other teachers applauded though. And so did quite a few of the students. Shane even made his way from the back of the stage to shake Daryl’s hand as he walked by. Daryl seemed nonplussed, but returned the handshake. Shane had told Rick that Daryl hadn’t planned on going and that he’d only just been able to convince him to come.

After the ceremony, Rick tried to catch up to each of his seniors to congratulate them and remind them that they would have practice on Monday. Even if they made it all the way to state, they’d only be playing three more weeks. They’d end up playing as many as four games a week if they kept winning. 

Daryl was already gone, Rick wasn’t sure to where. He wasn’t with Shane. It was a good bet he’d gone to go do some work on a car or something. Rick didn’t blame him. He knew that Daryl was ready to break free and make his own way in the world. It did make Rick a little sad though.

“Did you know that Daryl ain’t even plannin’ on having a party?” Shane asked as they drove back to Rick’s place. Lori had her SUV today because she needed it to take Carl to his game since Rick had to go to the graduation instead.

Rick shook his head, “Doesn’t surprise me. Can you see him trying to have a bunch of people hanging around and being the center of attention?”

“He’s doing it now. I mean, he’s the fucking pitcher, all eyes are on him when he’s pitching,” Shane said.

“Yeah, but…” Rick stopped short. He was going to say that Daryl was only doing that because he wanted to be closer to Rick.

Shane glanced over at Rick’s hesitation, “But what?”

“I think he zones out and doesn’t think about anyone else,” Rick covered.

Shane nodded his head, “I can see that. He does seem to be pretty focused when he’s up on the mound.”

Lori and Carl were home when Shane dropped Rick off. Lori was in the kitchen and Carl was up in his room playing.

Rick pecked his wife on the cheek while she made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for Carl.

“How was the game?” he asked.

“Hot.”

Rick chuckled, “I bet. Did they win?”

Lori nodded her head as she put the sandwich and a glass of milk on the table. She brushed past Rick and stood at the bottom of the stairs to holler up at Carl to come eat.

“Do I get a sandwich?” he asked her when she came back into the kitchen.

She gave him a long look and said, “I think you can make your own pb&j, Rick.”

He gave a tight smile and started making his sandwich. There was a time that Lori would have made him one too without even asking. But now it felt like Rick was an afterthought. Carl came first of course, but Rick felt like Lori would have forgotten all about him if he wasn’t standing right in front of her.

“It’s a nice day out. What do you think about taking Carl to the pool?” he asked.

Lori shook her head, “He’s going to take a nap and then my mom is coming to pick us up so we can spend the night there.”

Rick slammed down the knife in frustration, “When were you planning on telling me you were going to spend the night? And why are you even spending the night?”

Carl came into the kitchen then. Lori looked at Carl, but spoke to Rick in a voice meant to sound nice for Carl’s benefit, “Carl likes spending the night with Nana. Don’t you?”

“Yeah! Nana let’s me play video games and play in the sprinkler and lets me eat ice cream!” Carl said.

“That sounds fun, buddy,” Rick said as he ruffled his son’s hair.

He turned and gave Lori a meaningful look, but she wasn’t looking at him. Instead she was busy cleaning up the sandwich making things. He wanted to go outside to eat his sandwich, enjoy the day. But since Carl would be taking a nap and then leaving for the weekend, he wanted to spend as much time with his son as possible.

While Carl was napping after lunch, Lori packed a couple of bags for them. It seemed like a lot for only a night away, but Lori always had packed for every contingent. So she was probably just being thorough. 

Rick puttered around the house. Doing little repairs that had been waiting to get done. Changing lightbulbs, tightening screws. After Lori and Carl were picked up by her mom (who didn’t get out of the car, just sat in the driveway waiting) Rick mowed the grass and then used the weed eater to clean up. 

It wasn’t dark yet, so after taking a shower, Rick grabbed a beer and sat on the back patio. He could call Shane, see what he was into for the night, but knew that Shane probably had a date. Of course, if Rick called, Shane would cancel. But Rick didn’t want to do that.

Besides, Rick knew that if Shane agreed to hang out, then Daryl would probably show up as well. And Rick did not want to mix alcohol and Daryl. 

He closed his eyes and thought back to last weekend. It had been so long since he’d been with a man and then all of the sudden he’d done it twice. And with someone that was supposed to be protected from it. A student. Not to mention that he’d cheated on his wife. His wife that seemed to be spending as much time away from him as she could. 

Despite his resolve to not go down that rabbit hole, Rick couldn’t keep images of Daryl standing above him, or Daryl laying on him, or Daryl looking at him with eyes so full of... _ want _ . Images of a strong, beautiful man, an image that Rick had learned to not think about since college. But Daryl, damn Daryl, making Rick think about things that he shouldn’t think about. 

The only outcome that Rick could hope to happen is that after baseball season was over he and Lori would get over this rough patch and Daryl would graduate and not be part of Rick’s world any longer. Daryl was a temptation that Rick couldn’t allow to sway him. He could only imagine that not only would he lose Lori, and by default Carl, but also his career as a teacher and coach. 

Rick finished his beer and decided he ought to think about strategies against the first team they would be playing next week. Going back into the kitchen, he grabbed another beer and went to the family room and booted up the computer. He could look up the other team’s stats and see if there were any news stories about them.

Although the team was the same ranking as Rick’s, they came from a small district and hadn’t had near the competition that Rick’s did. It was a good bet that King High could win easily.

There were too many other teams that were possibilities after that to try and learn about. He would have to wait until the first round of games had been played before he could begin to study the teams.

Rick hesitated getting up from the computer. He so rarely was on the one at home, usually doing work on his computer at work, and then too busy to do anything at home. Lori usually used it. And Carl would sometimes watch videos on it under Lori’s strict supervision.

Feeling a little silly, Rick checked the room to make sure the blinds were drawn and no one could see in. Then he turned back to the computer and opened a new window, one that wouldn’t save his browsing history. 

He hadn’t been on a porn site for a very long time. He really didn’t feel the need. But now that Lori had frozen him out and the thing that he’d buried since college had roared to life, he wanted a release tonight. Something that wasn’t fraught with emotional turmoil. 

At first he’d looked for women that looked like Lori, petite and long dark hair. But they all looked like a plastic version of his wife with over exaggerated moans and  cries. Lori had never screamed during sex in her life. And since Carl had been born, it had been harder to actually have sex, Carl had to be firmly asleep or out of the house visiting before Lori would agree to it. 

The website he was on had a gay version. He hesitated, not sure what it would mean if he looked, but then relented. It wasn’t like he was going to do anything in real life. At least not anything more. And it was a good way to get it out of his system, these thoughts that Daryl had stirred up. 

There were almost as many choices of videos on the gay side as the straight side. He wasn’t sure what he was looking for as he browsed around the home page. Not daddies, or BDSM for sure. And he’d never understood the appeal of tickling. 

He scrolled through pages and pages, nothing really catching his eye. The slick studio ones looked okay, but they just didn’t seem like what he wanted. He liked the rawness of some of the homemade ones. He looked at a few, but didn’t really get into them. Not liking the impersonalness of some of the ‘hookup’ videos.

But then he saw one that looked like it was homemade under Boyfriends. One had dark hair and the other had light brown hair. They both looked like they worked out a bit, but weren’t bulging with muscles. And they were clearly in love. They held each other’s eyes as while they made love. Just kissing as much as anything else. And they seemed to know exactly what the other would like. Going from one sex act to another seamlessly.

Rick looked around the room again to make sure no one had snuck in on him, which was silly since all the doors were locked, and then pulled out his own cock.

The dark haired man on the video was giving the other guy a blow job. Deep throating and gagging, but smiling the whole time. The other guy had his hands full of dark hair and was helping to force his boyfriend onto his hard prick. Rick flashed back to Daryl’s room last Sunday evening. He recalled the smell and the taste and the feel of Daryl’s hard cock. He had to squeeze his own, or he would have come right then.

Instead he focused on the pair on the monitor. The lighter haired one was rimming the dark haired one. That was something that Rick and Paul hadn’t really explored when they were together. Rick tried to imagine how it would feel. He squirmed in the chair when the face that he imagined doing it morphed into Daryl’s face.

He tried to swap it with Paul’s face and then gave up. It was just a fantasy anyway. Just made up in his mind and no one would be the wiser. Daryl’s face was fresher in his mind anyway.

The men were now fucking. The dark haired one on his hands and knees while the other penetrated him. Rick let his other hand steal past his balls to his ass and the pucker there. He and Paul had only actually fucked two or three times. Rick couldn’t remember why, maybe because at the time it had felt so dirty and forbidden. But he remembered that it could be the best feeling in the world. 

He licked and sucked a finger, making it wet and slick, and went back to caressing around the edge of his hole, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to penetrate himself right here in the middle of the family room, just what he was doing felt reckless. But it felt so good in tandem with jacking his cock. 

All too soon the men on the screen had their orgasms. The top keeping himself buried while he came and then the bottom pulling on his cock until his release dotted and striped all over his stomach and chest. Rick wasn’t far after. 

After he was done coming down, he immediately felt stupid and ashamed. He went to the kitchen and got some cleaning wipes and cleaned the chair and desk and keyboard before shutting the computer down. Still feeling shame faced, he went upstairs and took a shower and then found a book to read in bed, one of Lori’s inspirational books, before finally falling asleep.

The next day he skipped church and stayed home, Lori wasn’t there to guilt him into going. She hadn’t even called him. He might catch hell later, but he realized he was enjoying the time alone. 

He called Shane late in the morning and discussed what the plan was for practice the next day and they made some notes. They could probably win the game with Ron and Jimmy pitching, but Ron needed to take the game off because of his pitch count. After that Rick went for a long run, trying to clear his mind, and took a quick shower when he got home.

Lunch was a sandwich and a dill pickle. The flowerbeds were weeded and the bushes trimmed, the yard now looked perfect. Lori texted late in the day and said she and Carl were going to spend another night. Rick wasn’t happy about that, but there wasn’t much he could do about it either.

Dinner was a bit lonely, but he managed. He watched a baseball game on tv, but it really didn’t hold his attention. The contentment with being alone this morning now taken over by loneliness. He wasn’t used to so much time on his own. 

The book he’d started reading the night before wasn’t very long, so he finished it just as the sun was going down.

He chewed his lip for a good five minutes before he gave in and fired up the computer. He quickly found the video of the two guys again. He was disappointed that they only had the one video uploaded and tried to find similar ones, but none had quite the same feel. He gave up and took a shower.

Rick stood under the spray and remembered what Daryl had told him about jacking off in the shower.  It made Rick instantly hard. Remembering he was alone, and had been all day, he got some body wash and slicked up his cock. It was good, but he kept thinking about what it would feel like to have a cock in his ass again after all this time.

Using Lori’s expensive conditioner, he worked on getting a finger actually up his ass. It burned a bit, but it wasn’t unpleasant. He tried another finger and liked it. His cock throbbed along with each thrust of his fingers.

It wasn’t long until he was bent over, his head resting against the cool tile, a leg propped up on the edge of the bath tub and water washing over him, furiously pumping his cock and three fingers up his ass thrusting hard. In his mind’s eye he could almost feel Daryl’s breath on his neck, hot and quick. He came with a roar, the remembered sound of Daryl’s breathy ‘ _ Rick…’  _ too much for Rick to be able to hold on any longer. 

The water was going cold by the time he’d finished cleaning himself up. 

He went to bed that night feeling relaxed in a way that he hadn’t felt all season. This was something he could do that would help him deal with his traitorous thoughts of Daryl. He could steal away to the shower and take care of himself and no one would be the wiser. Daryl may have reawakened long forgotten thoughts, but that didn’t mean Rick would have to do more than fantasize in private. This would work. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, well, well....Seems Rick likes a bit of the bow chika wow wow. And angst. He really likes being conflicted, doesn't he?
> 
> Also, I usually stay up until the first comment because I'm a weirdo like that, even if it takes a while, but umm...I have to get up early...so, if you've ever thought about commenting, please do. I'd love to hear from you!


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> uh oh, someone might be on to Rick and Daryl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Thanks for all the comments! So glad to hear from new folks and those that comment every chapter, you guys are why I work so hard to post when I'm supposed to!
> 
> Thank you to the incredible 1Lostone for her baseball knowledge, it was invaluable for this chapter. Thank you to TWDObsessive for betaing and all her cheerleading. You can thank her for telling me to quit worrying about this chapter and just post it already. LOL
> 
> KatyTheInspiredWorkaholic also cheered me on and told me to go ahead and post. (I explain more in the end notes)
> 
> This is also a gift to my wonderful friend TWDObsessive. She is the best.

“Alright guys, listen up!” Shane hollered at the team. It was Monday afternoon and they boys had just finished their warm ups for practice. 

Rick shot his best friend a grin and then addressed the boys in front of him, “First off, I want to say how proud I am of all of you. Not just for getting into the playoffs, but because we didn’t lose any of ya’ll to bad grades.” He waited for the hoots and hollers quieted down before continuing, “You upperclassmen have been good role models for the younger boys and I thank you for that. And all of ya’ll have been good ambassadors for our sport. Not only at school, but out in the community too.”

Rick took a minute to look each boy in the eye so that they would know he meant business. Daryl just happened to be the last one. “Now we will be faced with our first big test. I’ve looked into the team we’ll be playing first, and they have a lot in the win column, but they really haven’t been challenged. That doesn’t mean that we aren’t going to play our best. They have a good shortstop that rarely lets a ball by him, so today we’re going to work on hitting the ball away from the shortstop. Coach Walsh will be helping ya’ll with that. Rod, Jimmy, and Daryl will switch out pitching and I’ll play shortstop so you can practice with all of them. Any questions?”

After a few questions about random stuff, they got down to practice. Shane spent a good deal of time showing the boys how to hit the ball so that it went a little closer to second base than third, and Rick did his best to catch as many balls as he could. He may have been a pitcher, but he was pretty good at catching. 

Rick made the pitchers take a turn hitting too, he acted as pitcher and had Glenn, their own shortstop, catching anything he could. Daryl struggled to hit anything that wasn’t a straightforward hit, so Shane was helping him quite a bit. Daryl was getting more frustrated the more Shane tried to show him. Rick finally took pity on the two and came off the mound to help.

“Shane could hit a mosquito with a toothpick,” he said to Daryl as he got close to the batter’s box. 

Shane smiled at the compliment, but held up his hands in surrender, “I guess a pitcher can teach a pitcher how to hit.”

Rick snorted and took the bat from Daryl and had him stand where he could watch Rick hit. Ron was on the mound and threw one of his best sliders when Rick motioned he was ready.

Rick hit the ball with a loud crack. They all watched it sail deep into the outfield before Rick turned to Daryl to explain what he’d done. “For a slider, you have to try and hit it just as it comes across home plate, don’t wait for it to get to ya, but don’t reach too far either. You should be able to know it because it’ll drop a bit, just make sure you stride in the right place so the ball will connect. If you wait too long, you’ll miss every time.”

Daryl nodded his head and reached for the bat. Rick suppressed the fission of electricity that ran down his arm when Daryl’s fingers brushed his. Instead he took the spot that Daryl had just vacated and waved his hand at Ron to throw another ball. 

This time, Daryl was able to get some wood on it, but just enough that the ball bounced and rolled towards the pitcher’s mound. “Try again,” Rick told him, but Daryl had the same results the next time. 

Rick held up his hand to Ron and then stepped into the batter’s box next to Daryl. He pointed to a spot on home plate, “This is where you want to hit the ball. You’re striding just a second too late. Try and visualize when the ball is going to be there so you can anticipate when to hit it, you’ll have to rotate your hips just a bit into the swing.”

Daryl bit his lip and nodded his head. He took a deep breath and steadied himself before motioning to Ron to toss another ball. Rick stepped back and watched as Daryl hit the ball perfectly. It didn’t have as much distance as Rick’s had, but it was good enough to get him to first base in a game.

“Good job!” Rick said as he clapped Daryl’s shoulder. 

Daryl winced and pulled away and Rick could have kicked himself because he knew better. Daryl seemed to shake it off though and turned to Rick, shooing him off and then motioning to Ron to throw another. He hit that one as well.

“Think you got it,” Rick said with a smile.

Daryl smiled back, one of those shy, sweet, full-faced smiles that Rick had rarely seen. His heart did a little flip and he quickly turned away. “Ok boys, I think we’ll practice catching some grounders and then call it a night.”

A ragged cheer went up. They’d been at practice long enough, it was hot and muggy out and all the boys were starting to fade. Rick was pretty sure the cooler one of the moms had brought was empty of the water and sports drinks she had brought. Rick’s shirt was soaked with sweat and he was as done as the rest of the team. 

He went to the dugout to watch the boys clear out their stuff and made mental track of who needed to work on chasing after the ground balls. He tried to give each boy the same amount of attention, but his eyes always seemed to linger a bit longer on Daryl. It didn’t help that Rick caught Daryl looking at him a good many times.

Once the team was mostly cleared out, he got with Shane to schedule the next practice. Their game was on Friday, so they had some extra time, but some of the boys had other activities scheduled now that school was out, so they had to find a good time for all of the boys to make practice. 

He was just doing his last check to make sure nothing had been left behind when Aaron approached him in the dugout. Aaron was usually one of the last to leave, he loved baseball more than anyone Rick knew. He’d once told Rick he’d sleep on the field if it was allowed.

“Hey Aaron. Good practice. How do you think Jimmy will do next year?” Rick asked.

Aaron tilted his head in thought, “I don’t know. He really doesn’t seem like he’s got his head in it. All he does is talk about girls.”

Rick chuckled, “Not too many boys that don’t.”

“I don’t,” Aaron said with a shrug of his shoulder.

“Oh, right,” Rick had met Eric, Aaron’s boyfriend.

“But, that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about,” Aaron said as he looked around the dugout.

Rick looked around too, but they were the only ones there, “Oh? Something bothering you? Worried about the game?”

Aaron shook his head, “No. And I hesitate to bring it up. But…”

“But you’re going to tell me anyway?” Rick teased.

“I think...I think maybe Daryl has a crush on you,” Aaron said in a rush.

Rick’s breath went out of him in a  _ whoosh _ as he felt his heart drop so fast it made him rock on his feet. “What makes you think that?” he managed to ask.

Aaron pursed his lips and shook his head again, “I’m not sure. And I could be totally wrong. But I was certain that Daryl was hitting sliders just fine the last time we had batting practice,” he held up a hand to forestall Rick, “I know, I know. That doesn’t mean anything and he could have started over thinking it since then. But, there’s  _ something _ .”

“I don’t think Daryl having trouble hitting a ball means anything other than Daryl having trouble hitting a ball,” Rick said as he looked past Aaron to the pitcher’s mound. He wasn’t sure he could meet the catcher’s eye.

“Look, I’m not here to out the guy or anything. And hell, I’m probably way off base,” they both snorted at the idiom, “but, I just thought you should know.”

Rick nodded his head and forced himself to look at Aaron, “Thanks. I’ll try and be more aware of it. And don’t worry, I’m sure there’s nothing to it and if there is, I’ll let him down easy.”

Aaron smiled brightly, “I’m sure it’s not the first time you’ve had to deal with someone having a crush on you.”

Rick quirked an eyebrow at him.

“Oh! Not me!” Aaron rushed to reassure Rick, “Now Eric on the other hand…”

Laughing, Rick rubbed a hand down his face. He had no idea he was so attractive to teenage boys.

“Don’t worry, it was mostly the curls that attracted him,” Aaron said teasingly. 

“Must be why he likes you so much,” Rick teased back.

Aaron nodded his head and picked up his gear as he headed out of the dugout, “That and I give great head!” he threw over his shoulder before scurrying out.

Rick watched him leave and then sat heavily on the bench. Aaron was very observant. It was one of the reasons he was such a great catcher. He could keep his eye on the whole field as well as lead any pitcher on the mound. Rick just hadn’t thought he would be able to catch on to the tension between Daryl and himself. At least Aaron hadn’t noticed that Rick found himself just attracted to Daryl. 

He would just have to try harder. Maybe talk to Daryl and tell him that they had to do a better job of acting like coach and player. Rick wasn’t sure if it would be criminal at this point, Daryl  _ was  _ eighteen and graduated now. But Rick was sure the scandal would cost him his job. Not to mention his family. But he’d already been over that with Daryl. 

His phoned beeped for a text message as he sat with his head in his hands. He knew it was Lori. She mostly communicated via text with him anymore.

_ Don’t forget to take Carl to practice tomorrow. _

Rick ground his teeth. He’d just told her that morning that he was going to have to spend a lot of time away for the playoffs. Practice for the first week, and then games several times a week as they got closer to the championship.

_ Cant got ball practice  _

The phone rang almost as soon as the message was sent.

“Rick, we had a deal. You would take him to practice on Tuesdays and the games on Saturdays,” Lori said as soon as Rick answered.

“That was before the team got into the playoffs,” he reminded her.

“I know you don’t have a game until Friday. Have Shane do the practice.”

Rick took a deep breath, “That’s not how this works, Lori. I’m the head coach, I need to be there.”

“What about your son,” she hissed, “he needs you too.”

“He’ll have me all morning tomorrow. I’ll kick the ball with him in the backyard.”

“Rick, soccer is more than just kicking the ball.”

“I know that,” he said with a sigh. “But I don’t know as much about soccer as I do baseball. I can show him some basic dribble moves, would that work?”

There was a long pause on the other end of the line.

“Lori?”

“I know you’re pissed he isn’t playing little league, but that doesn’t mean you can make a joke out of the game he does play,” she replied.

“I am not making a joke out of soccer, but it would be a damn sight easier to teach him how to play a game that I already play,” he said with slipping patience.

“Damn it Rick! It’s not about you! Carl plays soccer, he has practice three days a week and a game on Saturday. I’m just asking you to take on half the duties of it.”

“Lori, I already told you that I’m more than happy to do that. Except I can’t while my team that I coach, that I get  _ paid _ to coach, is going to the playoffs. I can’t push that off on my assistant coach. How would that look if we lost a game and I hadn’t been there? I could lose my job.”

“Fine, Rick. Don’t take him to practice tomorrow. I will do it. Just like I do everything else. But I’ll have to take him to my folks after since I know that you’ll have to use my SUV since you still haven’t replaced your damn truck and I’ll need a vehicle.”

“Why would you have to take him to your folks after? Can’t they just give you a fucking ride?”

“Don’t you cuss at me! I need you Rick,  _ Carl needs you _ , but you’re more wrapped up in your own life to see it.”

“Why can’t you be apart of my life instead of trying to force me to give up one of the things I love?” he asked angrily.

Another long pause and then, “I thought Carl and I were the thing you loved.”

And then the phone went dead.

Rick stared at the phone long enough for the light to dim before throwing it as far as he could out into the field. He knew he’d regret it later, but it was that or punch the concrete wall behind him.

He got into  _ Lori’s _ SUV and sped out of the parking lot. He couldn’t go home. So he went to the next best place. Shane’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! So sorry for how late I'm posting. RL things happened, and they had to take precedence. Also, I had a goal for myself with this fic and I just couldn't make it work with this chapter, i looked at it for hours trying to do the thing, and it just wasn't working. There's nothing wrong with it, it's just me being hard on myself. (and no, I won't tell you what it is because I don't want you all to worry about it too)
> 
> You all have all been commenting how much you love Shane. Well, I do too. I think the Shane in this fic is closer to what he was probably like pre-apocalypse - friends with Rick, a basically nice guy, and a horndog.


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rick isn't the jealous type, is he?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Thanks for all your lovely comments! 
> 
> Thank you to 1Lostone and TWDObsessive for betaing for me! I added a bit to this chapter, so any mistakes are mine.
> 
> Thanks to KatytheInspiredWorkaholic for helping me with a tricky bit of dialog. She's pretty awesome.
> 
> Ok, without giving away too much of the chapter...I need you all to forgive my bit of divergence from what we know from canon. You'll know what I'm talking about when you get to it. I will explain it in the end notes.

Rick pulled up to Shane’s condo, parked in a dark corner of the lot and then sat in the SUV gripping the steering wheel and resting his head on it. He had to calm down before he did something stupid. Like walk into Shane’s place like he owned it and...and pushed Daryl into his room and shut the door. No, he really couldn’t do that.

Instead he worked on breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth. It’s what his college baseball coach had taught Rick to do when he was so angry that he couldn’t focus. It must have been working because the darkness at the edge of Rick’s vision started to fade away. 

He wasn’t sure why he was so irrationally angry with Lori. The conversation hadn’t been much different than what it had been in the last few weeks. It was always the same, he was spending too much time on baseball and not enough on Carl, he needed to get a new truck, and  - worst of all - he didn’t care about his family.

But along with the argument with Lori spinning in his head, was the conversation with Aaron. Right now it could be chalked up to an infatuation on Daryl’s part for Rick. And that’s mostly what it was. But if Aaron ever picked up on the fact that it had been acted upon, well, Rick didn’t need to think about that.

He was standing in front of Shane’s door before he even knew he got out of the SUV. Knocking before he processed that he was actually going to go in, not even sure what was going to happen. 

“Rick! Didn’t expect you!” Shane said, surprised.

Rick stepped past Shane into the living room, his eyes scanning, looking. He shouldn’t. It was wrong. He turned back to Shane and tried to rack his brain to give a good excuse why he was there.

And then Daryl came into the room. Wearing an old t-shirt with the sleeves ripped out and a baggy pair of jeans that Daryl probably wasn’t the first owner of. 

Daryl looked at him in confusion, “Coach?”

“I uh…”

But he didn’t get to answer as there was another knock on the door. Shane turned and opened it to a tall sandy haired young man that Rick recognized.

“Spencer,” Daryl said with a nod of his head.

Rick tilted his head and looked between Spencer and Daryl.”Spencer,” Rick said with as slight an edge as he could manage.

Shane stepped away from the door and into the sudden coldness of the room, “Spencer called the other day to congratulate us on getting to the playoffs.”

Rick tilted his head the other way, “Didn’t call me.”

Spencer shrugged a shoulder, “Never needed your number, so I didn’t have it to call.”

Daryl darted his eyes between the two before stepping closer to Spencer, “Shane mentioned I was having trouble hittin’ the ball and since Spencer used to be a pitcher too, he offered to take me to the batting cage to help me.”

It was a good idea. Except for the fact that Spencer was a little shit and Daryl didn’t need that much help with his batting. Not more than what Rick and Shane could provide anyway. 

Spencer smiled and clapped Rick on the arm, “Don’t worry. I’m sure I can help him, even if you couldn’t. Dad was coaching me since little league. Best coach we ever had at the high school.”

Rick nodded his head, “He was a good coach. Coached me and Shane here. Helped us earn scholarships. Too bad he passed away before you finished high school.”

Shane’s eyes darted to Rick in horror, “Rick!”

Stepping closer, Spencer narrowed his eyes at Rick, “Yeah, too bad the coach that took over for him was inexperienced and led the team to its first losing season in fifteen years.”

“Maybe if the pitcher had lost the chip on his shoulder and focused on the game instead of crying about the coach not being….”

Spencer put his hands on his hips, “ _ Maybe _ if we hadn’t had a coach that wasn’t so worried about following every damn rule and regulation in the damn book and let the pitchers that could pitch…” 

“And that’s why I was the coach and you weren’t, besides the fact that you were still a student and had to follow the damn rules whether you liked it or not. Indulging your over inflated ego and undermining my authority was what got you kicked off the pitcher’s mound.”

“Okay! Okay,” Shane cut in, “why don’t you and Daryl go on and get to the batting cage before it closes. I’m sure ya’ll can get in a couple of hours work.”

Daryl gave a short nod and put a hand on Spencer’s arm to lead him out the door. Rick barely suppressed a growl at the touch. Spencer managed to throw a triumphant smile over his shoulder before Daryl dragged him out the door. 

As soon as they were gone, Shane whipped around and looked at Rick, “What the hell was that?”

Rick put his hands on his hips, “Daryl’s wasting his time hanging out with that asshole.”

Shane ducked his head, “That may be, but you ain’t got no cause starting something with him.”

Licking his lips, Rick took a moment before answering, “Didn’t come here to start nothing. But he’s still got that chip on his shoulder.”

“Can you blame him, Rick? Kid loses his dad his Junior year of high school. New coach comes in that is still wet behind the ears and he has a losing season for the first time ever and loses out on a scholarship because of it. One that you and I did get because of  _ his _ dad just few years earlier.”

“If he hadn’t fought me on every single thing…” Rick started.

“Listen, it don’t matter anymore.” Shane spread his arms wide, “He’s gone and graduated, found a way into college and you don’t have to deal with him.”

Rick took a deep breath through his nose, “Not sure if Daryl needs his help.”

“He doesn’t, but Daryl doesn’t really have any friends that aren’t on the team, and it’d be nice if he did. Even if it’s that asshat.”

“Yeah, you’re right, Shane. He doesn’t matter. Daryl will figure him out soon enough anyway. Did you have plans tonight? Did you want to research any of the teams in the first round?”

Shane looked at Rick speculatively, “That’s not why you came over here, is it?”

Rick snorted, “No. No it is not.”

“Gonna tell me?” Shane asked as he motioned Rick to the kitchen table.

“Lori’s pissed at me again,” Rick said as he sat down, “Wants you to take over practice tomorrow so I can go to Carl’s instead.” There was no way he’d tell Shane about the conversation with Aaron, even if he was as upsetting as his conversation with Lori. Shane would suss that out in a heartbeat. 

Shane handed Rick a beer, “I mean, I’d do it man. But I think the boys need you.”

“That’s what I told her,” Rick said as he picked at the paper label on the bottle. “I don’t think she really understands how important this is.”

“Didn’t she used to come to all our games in college?” 

Rick tilted his head to the side, she had been there. But Rick only remembered her sitting in the stands with a group of her friends. “Yeah, but I think she was more interested in showing her support than actually getting into the games.”

“I don’t know much about soccer, is it their playoff season too?” Shane said before he took a long pull of his own beer.

Rick shook his head, “Nah. Just a regular practice. I told her that I could run drills with him in the morning, but she really wanted me to take him. The coach is an all right guy, and he likes to talk about the team, so it’s not all bad. ”

“I don’t know, man.” Shane said carefully, “Seems like a rock and a hard place.”

Rick took a long swallow of his beer, eyes unfocused as he thought about the problem. He could not figure out a way to be two places at once, try as he might. It wouldn’t even be a big deal if King County wasn’t in the playoffs. 

“Look, this team we play Friday, there ain’t no way they’re going to beat us. Why don’t you go to Carl’s practice this week and then we can figure out a way to get out of it next time.”

“I  don’t know. If something happens and we lose, everyone will say it’s because I wasn’t at all the practices.”

“Okay, first off, that’s a bad attitude. But second, we ain’t gonna lose. I mean, it could always be a David and Goliath story, sure. But I’ve seen the stats on this team, they can’t hold a candle to our boys. We’ll beat ‘em. No problem. And we won’t even need Daryl to do it.”

Rick nodded, Shane was right. And Rick would still be able to be there for practice on Wednesday and Thursday. 

“Got another question for you,” Rick said.

“What’s that?” Shane asked.

“Can you go back to the field and help me find my phone? I might have thrown it from the dugout.”

Shane threw back his head and laughed, Rick joining in sheepishly.

They drank another beer, talking about what Shane would do during Tuesday’s practice, before going back and spending a half hour looking for Rick’s phone before Shane realized they could just call it from his phone. Luckily Rick had a pretty tough case on it so it survived the landing well beyond the infield.

Rick was feeling much better by the time Shane pulled his Camaro into his parking lot. Shane always had his back, and he was sure that that Shane covering for him would let Rick help out Lori by taking Carl to his practice and the boys would still get everything they needed for the one practice that he would miss.

Shane swore as he saw a pair of tail lights in his designated spot in front of his condo, “Damn it, there’s plenty of guest parking.”

Rick was curious who would have the audacity to park in someone else’s spot, so he swiveled his head to get a good look as Shane drove past it to an empty guest spot.

It was a newer BMW Z4, the top down and still running. A pretty, flashy car, but it was more for fun driving than anything else. Not like the Camaro that was all muscle. He could just make out two people leaning against it before the minivan parked next to it obscured his view.

Shane parked the car and popped out before Rick even got his door open, walking purposefully to his parking spot to confront the person parked there. Rick hurried so that he was right on Shane’s heels by the time they rounded the minivan. Shane had been in a good mood on the way back, but he was damn possessive and this would throw a wrench in his good humor.

Rick’s stomach twisted in a tight knot when he saw who it was. Daryl and Spencer. Daryl leaning against the running car and Spencer standing in front of him, almost between Daryl’s splayed and relaxed legs. They weren’t actually touching, but they were leaning into each other, as though they were sharing a secret thought. 

“Damn Spencer, don’t you know not to use other people’s stuff?” Shane asked in a huff when he got close enough.

Spencer shrugged, “Nobody was using it.”

Rick wasn’t looking at Spencer or Shane. He was looking at Daryl. Who was looking back at him with the sharp glint of defiance. 

“Just because you don’t see somebody using it, doesn’t mean it’s available just because you show up,” Shane said in an exasperated voice.

“How the hell was I supposed to know? Is your name on it? Is there a sign that says, ‘I belong to Shane Walsh’?” Spencer asked peevishly.

Daryl was still staring a hole in Rick, his eyes narrowing as the look intensified. 

Shane gestured towards Daryl,”He could have told you. And there is a sign at the front of the parking lot that visitors have to park in the visitor spots.”

Spencer shrugged again, “Didn’t think I needed to ask. And he didn’t volunteer. We’ve only been here a minute, nothing to get all bent out of shape about.”

“It’s not that big a deal, Shane,” Daryl said, his eyes still on Rick. “It’s not like you were using it.”

Rick balled his fists up, “Let it go Shane. I’m sure Spencer was just planning on dropping Daryl off and leaving.”

“Yeah,” Spencer said with a smirk, “I was planning on just being here a second. But then Daryl and I started talkin’. We got a lot in common.”

“Do you?” Rick asked, just barely containing the urge to clench his teeth.

Spencer nodded his head and turned his attention back to Daryl, “Both play baseball, both played for the same team,” Daryl darted his eyes to Spencer’s with a sharp look, “Both admire Coach Walsh.”

Rick let the slight slide. He’d given up on caring what Spencer thought about him years ago. 

“That’s great, it really is. And I appreciate the admiration, but could you get your foreign piece of shit out of my parking spot before I move it myself?” Shane said in his dangerous voice.

Looking at Shane in alarm, Spencer said, “Hey, no reason to get testy. I’ll move it,” he turned to look at Daryl, “I’ll call you tomorrow. Maybe I can teach you that curveball you wanted to learn.”

“You’ll have to call Shane again, ain’t got a phone,” Daryl said as he sat up from the side of the car.

“Maybe we can go and see about getting you one then,” Spencer said as he lightly touched the inside of Daryl’s wrist. “I’ll call tomorrow.”

Shane glared daggers at Spencer as he got in his car and drove away. He didn’t even see the silent exchange between Rick and Daryl. As soon as Spencer was gone, Shane went to get his car, leaving the other two standing there on the sidewalk next to his condo.

“There wasn’t nothin’...” Daryl started.

“Anything,” Rick interrupted.

Daryl huffed, “Fine. There wasn’t anything going on. We were just talking about how awesome it was to be going to the playoffs.”

Rick looked past Daryl’s shoulder, “It’s not any of my business Daryl. I don’t care for Spencer, but it doesn’t have anything to do with you.”

“You sure about that?” Daryl leaned in close to ask.”You seemed to take it personal.”

Rick met Daryl’s eyes and let out a long breath, “Daryl, I’ve got no claim on you. Never have. I’m sorry if you’re feeling guilty, but you can see whomever you want.”

“It’s not that I feel guilty, it’s that you look angry,” Daryl said as Shane pulled his car into his spot with an exaggerated growl from the engine. 

Rick was going to reply, but Shane opened his door and got out of his car just then.

“Damn, that Spencer is a shit,” He said, slamming the door to his car.

“Yeah, think I already told you that,” Rick said with a snort.

Daryl rolled his eyes and turned to go into the condo, “Ya’ll need help.”

Shane clapped his friend on the shoulder, “Come in for a beer?”

Rick shook his head, he remembered what happened the last time he stayed to long for a beer, “Nah. I should get home. Lori’s gonna have a conniption fit. Thanks for helping me find my phone. I’ll see you all on Wednesday.”

“Wait, Wednesday?” Daryl turned around and asked.

“Coach Grimes has other commitments tomorrow,” Shane said as he unlocked his front door. “Have you eaten Daryl? I’m starved.”

Daryl’s eyes lingered on Rick for a moment more before he turned and followed Shane into the condo, “I think there’s some Chinese left.”

Rick watched the door shut and stood there for a long moment before gathering himself up and heading home. His phone had died shortly after they found it, so he plugged it in as soon as he got in the SUV. It didn’t matter, there were no missed calls or texts waiting for him.

When he got home he didn’t bother going upstairs to his - her - bedroom. Instead he kicked off his shoes and laid on the couch. Lori would be pissed that he hadn’t taken a shower first. The smell of him after a long day might penetrate her perfectly smelling furniture. But he just didn’t give a damn anymore. 

The sun was just turning the sky gray when he fell asleep, images of Spencer touching Daryl burning into his retinas and playing on a loop. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, to explain. As I mentioned at the beginning of this fic, I started this way back in the summer of 2015, when Reg and Deanna were alive. By the time I got to this chapter, they were both dead on the show and I didn't catch that until I had already written a significant amount of Spencer. And Spencer is the perfect little asshole right here, so I didn't want to lose him. So forgive my creative license.


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daryl is moving on, but...ugh... _Spencer_?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for your enthusiasm for this fic. It means a lot to me. But I really can't give you the whole fic at once, lol.
> 
> Thank you to 1Lostone and TWDObsessive for betaing for me. Anytime I ask, they drop everything and give it a look see. 
> 
> Also, thank you for going with Spencer's story line, I know it's not right, but like I said, Spencer is perfect for what I needed. Also, I wanted to surprise you. :D He's in the tags now, so future readers might not get to be surprised.

Rick and the couch became very well acquainted over the week. Lori’d given him the eye when she’d come downstairs and then promptly sprayed down the couch with some kind of froufrou spray as soon as Rick got up. He didn’t even care.

Taking a shower in the master bathroom felt like he was intruding on her space, even though he’d showered there everyday for years. The whole house felt like that though. Like he was at a spinster aunt’s house and he wasn’t allowed to touch anything for fear of breaking it. 

Carl loved running drills with Rick Tuesday morning. Mostly he  just tried to run and kick the ball without tripping over it. Rick could barely do it himself. And after Lori went out to the grocery store, Rick snuck in some practice throws with Carl, mostly just teaching Carl not to flinch at the ball coming at him. Rick’s mom had bought Carl a glove as soon as they knew he was going to be a boy. Rick would have bought one no matter what the baby’s sex was.

He zoned out through most of Carl’s practice, thinking about what Shane and the team were doing. He would have liked to text Shane, but Rick made everyone leave their phones in the dugout during practice and the games. Shane and Rick were no exception.

He was still trying to stretch out a kink in his neck when he and Shane got to practice on Wednesday. All the boys were already there and ready for practice, the moms making sure each of them had a bottle of water or a sport drink. Rick was proud of his team for their dedication, they wanted this chance at a state title as much as Rick did.

Spencer was there - sitting in the dugout as though he were a part of the team and deserved to be there. Rick side eyed Shane, but ignored Spencer. At least Daryl was out in the field, tossing balls back and forth with Ron and Jimmy to warm up his arm. If Rick were honest with himself, he just didn’t want to see Daryl and Spencer together. Not that he was thinking of himself with Daryl, just that Daryl could do much better. Too bad the only other out high schoolers were already together. Of course, Daryl technically wasn’t out either. 

Rick watched his team for a while as they worked together out on the field, tossing balls to each other and practicing various catches. He’d round them up in a bit and have Shane lead them in calisthenics before having them run laps around the field. He and Shane would discuss the lineup while they waited for the boys to finish. 

Daryl always hated to run. He didn’t even try to run up front or the middle of the pack. He just loped along in his used off brand sneakers like he was just trying to cover ground and get it over with. During tryouts early in the season, Rick had made him run extra laps because of it. But Daryl never varied his pace,just stoically running along, so Rick let him win that battle. It was worth it to keep Daryl on the team. Besides, Rick had felt it could be a starting point for building on his work ethic, but after having him on the team for a season, it was obvious that Daryl had an excellent work ethic. He just didn’t hurry up about it. 

“So, I’m thinking that Daryl can hit last…” Rick was saying to Shane while the boys ran.

He was cut off by Spencer, “I think he should hit fourth. He’s really gotten better at hitting those curve balls.”

Rick stared at Shane in disbelief before turning to look at Spencer who had come to stand next to the two coaches. “What?”

“Look, I’ve been watching Daryl hit and I think you don’t have to put him at the bottom of the rotation because you think he will strike out,” Spencer said with a shrug.

Rick licked his lips and tilted his head, but Shane answered before Rick got a chance to.

“Thank you Spencer, but I think Coach Grimes knows what he’s doing,” he said in his best ‘I’m trying to be nice’ voice.

“Hey, I’m sure that on paper it looks good to not let him hit, but I’ve seen him the last few days, here at practice and at the batting cage, and he’s really come along,” Spencer said with determination.

Rick turned to look Spencer full in the face, only tilting his head up enough to stare the man in the eye, “And how hard and how far did he hit the ball? Would it get past the infield? Would it land right back in the pitcher’s mitt or would the shortstop catch it?”

Spencer put his hands on his hips, “I just think that it would be nice to give Daryl the opportunity…”

“Well, Spencer,’ Rick said as he looked down at his feet and shook his head to try and keep himself calm, “No one has asked you what you think.” His eyes shot back up and pinned the younger man, “As a matter of fact, no one  _ wants  _ to know what you think. Now, I let you sit here in the dugout because you used to be on the team and some of the guys remember your dad, but I can’t let you do that anymore if you think it gives you the right to even  _ consider  _ opening your mouth and giving me your opinion. You feel me?”

Spencer held up his hands and backed away, “Hey, I just wanted to help out. I played on this team too.”

Rick nodded, “Well, if there comes a time that I want your opinion, Spencer, I’ll be sure to let you know. But don’t hold your breath.”

Turning back to the field, Rick figured the boys had at least five more laps to go before they were done. He didn’t even stop to think about it before he pushed out of the dugout and got in line with them and did the laps with them. Running would clear Spencer, and his opinions, out of his head. 

After a hard sprint to the finish that most of the boys found exciting ( not Daryl, of course), Rick set the team up to practice long throws and catches. He had half the team along the back fence and the other just outside the infield and had them work on sending the ball a long distance and getting it into the mitt of the person they were throwing it too and vice versa. It was good practice for catching hits that could end up being home runs. 

Shane was with the group of boys in the outfield and Rick along the fence, walking behind the boys and coaching them on watching the ball and timing when the ball would be catchable. Every once in a while, one or the other of the coaches would throw a wild ball that made the boys run and dive for the ball. 

A low rumble of thunder ended practice a little early, but Rick still felt like it was a productive day. Shane was taking Rick home, so after most of the boys and the moms had left, Rick did his usual sweep before heading to the Camaro. 

“Where’s Daryl?” he asked Shane when he got to the car.

Shane shrugged a shoulder, “Think he left with Spencer.”

Rick bit his lip and nodded his head. Daryl could hang out with whoever he wanted to. Even an asshat like Spencer.

\---

It worked out that Rick could go to Carl’s practice and his own on Thursday, so he did as a peace offering to Lori. Her smile lit up her face the way that it used to when Rick first fell for her. She really was quite beautiful.

Shane and Rick worked the boys hard at practice. If they were good and worn out, then hopefully they would all get a good night’s sleep before the game on Friday. After practice, everyone went to Glenn’s for spaghetti (even though Glenn bitched it wasn’t spaghetti night).

Rick still had to sleep on the couch. 

Actual sleep eluded him, thoughts of the game the next day foremost in his mind. Rick wasn’t so cocky as to think that it would be an easy win, but the team they were playing was from a much smaller school and didn’t have as competitive of a district as King High School did. It wasn’t long until his thoughts shifted to Daryl...and Spencer. His reaction to Spencer had been a bit extreme, he knew that. But Spencer was a spoiled asshole. And Daryl deserved better. Much better. 

Shane counted heads on the bus Friday morning after they left the high school parking lot. There was one extra. Spencer sat in the back with Daryl. Rick pursed his lips but said nothing. 

“Want me to pull over and kick him off?” T-dog asked, using the mirror above the windshield to look at Rick in the front seat without turning around. .

Rick met the bus driver’s eyes in the big rear view mirror, “Nah, it’d just get everyone worked up. Don’t want them to lose their focus.”

T-dog nodded, “He’s still a little shit just like when he was in high school.”

Rick had to laugh at that, Spencer  _ was _ a little shit.

The game went well, the only hiccup was the ump giving Glenn shit about his cap. Daryl figured out a way around it and just put his cap on top of Glenn’s. The ump thankfully let that slide. Spencer sat in the bleachers; he wasn’t officially a part of the team and there was no way that Rick was going to fudge so that he could sit in the dugout.

It was a quick game. They won by eight runs and Rick didn’t want it to be any more of a blow out, so he sent Jimmy to pitch the last couple of innings. And since Daryl was the last batter, he usually ended the inning. Yes, he  _ did _ hit the ball, but as Rick predicted, it usually went right into the glove of an infielder. Regardless of how competitive the other team was, they still had players that had been playing since they were just out of diapers and could catch anything Daryl would hit with ease.   

They celebrated at DQ as usual. The team and their families, and even some alumni that had gone to the game, filled the whole front of the store and spilled out to the patio outside. Daryl bought his own blizzard and hamburger and ate it at an outside table with the other pitchers. And Spencer. 

Rick sat with Shane and a couple of the divorcee moms at a table near the exit of the restaurant and few tables away from the pitcher’s table. Shane was flirting pretty hard, but he would keep his promise to Rick and not take any of them out. And if any of them were flirting with Rick, he didn’t notice. What he did notice was that even though Spencer was sitting with Daryl and the other pitchers, Daryl’s eyes would still steal over to Rick’s table and the women sitting with Rick. 

His phone rang just as their eyes met for the third time, “Hello? Yes, this is Coach Grimes. Yes. Yes.” Rick held up a finger to Shane who was looking at him curiously, “Okay. I’ll let the team know. Thank you.”

“We’re playing Southeastern High tomorrow,” he told Shane. “We’re probably going to have to spend the night at a hotel after the game, there’s no way I’m spending four hours on the bus there and four hours back after the game. Win or lose.”

Shane nodded his head and stood up, “Listen up! We just got word that we’ll be playing Southeastern tomorrow. That means a four hour bus ride there and back. Coach is going to find us a hotel and we’re gonna spend the night, win or lose. I know it’s short notice, but we’ll do what we can to minimize the costs for ya’ll. Go ahead and find a buddy to share a room with, if you haven’t got one, let me or Coach know and we’ll work it out.”

Shane sat down and Rick absorbed the swell of conversation. Most of the kids were excited, but he knew for a couple, including Daryl, it would be a stretch to get a hotel on short notice. Luckily the school had set aside discretionary funds for just this type of situation. He’d talk to the team moms and see if they had enough time to gather up and bring sandwiches, fresh fruit, and extra drinks. 

Daryl caught Rick’s eye again, but this time motioned to the parking lot. Rick got the hint and followed Daryl out to Shane’s car.

“Ain’t going,” he said without preamble.

Rick pinched his nose, he figured this would happen, “Daryl, it’s just for one night. I’m sure you can bunk with Glenn.”

Daryl shook his head and looked off into the distance. 

“Look, I know you don’t want to spend the money, and I can’t guarantee a win. But I can promise you we will lose if you aren’t there.”

“What time are we leaving?” Daryl asked after a moment.

“Game starts at three, so probably eight. Gives us time to get to a hotel and then to the field to warm up and get a bit of practice in.”

Daryl swore under his breath, “Was hopin’ to get in an oil change or something before then.”

“Look, I have to pay for all the rooms on one credit card. Now I’ve got a card just for the team’s expenses. Everyone else will have to pay me back on Monday. You can too. You’ll just need to pay for some food, okay? I’m going to ask the team moms to bring extra sandwiches and snacks for everyone, so it won’t be much you have to buy.” Rick actually wouldn’t push anyone to pay him back on Monday, but knowing Daryl, he would want to clear his debt as soon as he could. 

“Everyone else is gonna pay later?” Daryl asked.

“Yes,” Rick said firmly.

Daryl nodded in his way and then stole a glance at Rick, “Your wife know you flirt with everybody’s moms?”

Rick chuckled and looked back at the table he’d left. Shane must have been telling a whopper of a story, Rick could see his facial expressions and his wide open arms from where he was in the parking lot. “I just sit there, Shane does all the flirtin’ for both of us.”

Daryl snorted, “I can see that.”

“We good?” Rick asked.

Biting his lip, Daryl nodded again.

Rick was just about to walk away, had even started the motion, when the words slipped out, “You and Spencer seeing each other now?”

Daryl cocked his head, the light glinting off his bright eyes, “Thought you didn’t care?”

“Don’t,” Rick said. “Just need to know if I have to deal with that asshat at every game and practice.”

Shrugging, Daryl said, “He wants to help me play better.”

It was Rick’s turn to snort, “I don’t think it’s baseball he wants to play at.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Daryl said, “And I don’t even know if I want it to be anything else. But what I do want,” he slanted his eyes at Rick, “doesn’t know what he wants. And I’m not going to wait until he figures it out.”

Rick felt his chest tighten, he looked off into the distance as he replied, “Told you Daryl, I got a wife and a kid and a career. And that’s what  _ I _ want. I’m sorry if that don’t match up with what you want. If you think this thing with Spencer is going somewhere, then don’t let me stand in your way. But the guy’s an egotistical jerk.” He looked back at Daryl, “Don’t let him get into your head. At least not until after the playoffs.”

Daryl stood up straighter, “He’s not the one that’s stuck in my head.”

Rick was about to say that he didn’t  _ want _ to be in Daryl’s head, but just then Spencer hollered for Daryl.

“See you tomorrow, Coach,” Daryl said morosely as he walked past Rick to go to Spencer and his shiny, useless, car.

Rick took a breath and then felt his phone ping. It was a text from Lori. She was taking Carl and spending the night at her folks. Again. And didn’t even ask about them winning the game today. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have much for end notes tonight, sorry. :( But I'd love to hear what you think!


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An away game! Yay!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, all the comments I got on the last chapter! Awesome! You all rock!
> 
> Thank you to the lovely and talented 1Lostone and TWDObsessive for their brilliant work. I only had one edit (for a comma!) and then I went and added and changed things... lol. So if you see any mistakes, they are mine. 
> 
> I think you will like this chapter, it's been a long time coming. (NO! Not that kind, get your mind out of the gutter....geeze.) ;)

The house was quiet and cold when Rick got home. Near the middle of June in Georgia and he felt like he’d just walked out onto the Siberian plain. He thought about getting a beer and sitting in the back yard for a bit, but there was no beer and he kinda still stank from the game.

Since he knew he would have to leave early tomorrow, Rick went ahead and took a quick shower and then packed a bag and set it by the front door. That took all of an hour. If that.

Before he had dinner he texted Lori to see if he could talk to Carl, but his son was out playing in the pool and Lori didn’t want him to get her phone wet. She still didn’t ask how the game went. Rick didn’t bother to tell her.

The thought of sleeping in the bed crossed his mind since she wouldn’t be there, but he and the couch were buddies now, so he slept there. Even though he was really starting to develop a weird pain in his neck. But that could just be stress.

He called Shane and one of the more reliable moms first thing in the morning to make sure everyone was aware of the plan for the day. T-dog was especially excited. He already had a trip to the beach planned for his down time while the team was playing. Rick didn’t blame him, he wouldn’t mind a quick trip to the beach too.

Carl finally called as he was walking out the door, “Hi Daddy! Mommy says we’ll be home in time for you to take me to my game today.”

Rick grimaced, “Carl buddy, I told your mom I can’t today. The team won last night and we’ve got to take a long trip to our next game.”

He could hear Carl pouting through the phone, “How long will you be gone? I miss you daddy.”

“Probably won’t be home until bedtime, I’m sorry. But I’ll be home all day with you tomorrow. Okay?”

“Yeah, okay daddy. Will you be home to tell me a bedtime story?” Carl asked.

“I’ll do my best!” Rick promised.

He was going to have Carl give the phone to his mom, but the phone went dead before he had a chance. Figuring it wasn’t worth the hassle, Rick just let it go. He had to call Shane for a ride anyway, Lori was going to need the SUV to take Carl to his soccer game.

Shane showed up with Daryl a few minutes later, Rick tried hard not to look at the broad shoulders and strong arms of the young man. Or notice the bronze color of his skin. And when Daryl got out of the car to get in the back seat, Rick  _ certainly  _ didn’t see the patch of hair around Daryl’s navel from where his shirt had shifted. 

“Coach,” was all Daryl had said to him in greeting. And all he said to him on the ride over.

Shane dominated the conversation, talking about Southeastern High and their chances for the day, running through the roster again, and trying to figure out who they would play, and when, if they won. Rick gazed out the window and let him talk, only grunting in agreement here and there to show he was participating in the conversation. 

Either Shane didn’t notice the strange tension between Rick and Daryl, or chose to ignore it. Rick was trying to ignore it. Daryl had Spencer, so there shouldn’t be anymore of this...this  _ inappropriateness _ between the two of them.

The parking lot was chaos when they got there. The bus was late, and only half the kids were there. And they had to leave in twenty minutes if they wanted to get there in time to check into the hotel first. Rick had Shane get on the phone calling kids while Rick called T-dog, it wasn’t like him to be late.  

It only took one phone call to figure out there had been an accident and it was holding up the rest of the team and the bus. Luckily, it wasn’t anyone on the team and it didn’t sound like it was a fatal accident, just messy. A semi had jackknifed and spilled its cargo all over the road. T-dog was able to find a side road and came up the back way to the school. 

By the time everyone had gotten their gear loaded and Shane had done a double headcount, they were running quite a few minutes behind. T-dog assured Rick he could make up the time, but Rick didn’t want to worry about them getting in an accident of their own. He’d planned an extra thirty minutes into the trip anyway. Hopefully, no more of it would get eaten up by delays on the road.

The boys were boisterous for the first part of the ride, tossing a ball around, hollering, and telling dirty jokes that Rick tried not to hear and Shane smirked at. Glenn got a little too rambunctious and threw a ball hard enough to hit the security camera above T-dog’s head. Shane confiscated the ball and nixed any more ball tossing on the bus.

By eleven thirty, the majority of the boys had slunk down in their seats, wrapped up in their phones or other electronic device. Except Daryl, who just stared out the window at the landscapes slipping by, probably wanting to be anywhere but where he was. Rick felt a twinge of guilt at that thought. 

He talked to T-dog for a moment about what they would have to do to fix the camera when they got back and then they were pulling off the highway at the next exit. They’d been on the road for two hours and it was time for lunch and the boys needed to stretch their legs and have a chance to use the restroom. Hopefully, they would be in and out in a half an hour. 

They lucked out because the restaurant they stopped at was well equipped to handle a bus load of kids and their entourage with plenty of bathrooms and a large dining room. All five cash registers were going just as fast as the kids behind the counter could ring up the orders. They were in and out within twenty-five minutes, kids still stuffing fries in their mouth as they loaded the bus. Rick was impressed.

They made it to the hotel with just enough time to get checked in and drop any non essential gear before they turned around and went to the ballfield. The dad that said he could get them a deal came through and not only did they get a good price, but the whole team was on one floor and any parents that were spending the night were on the next floor down. Rick felt like it was a good omen.

The first inning didn’t go so well. Daryl pitched well enough, but the other team had some great hitters. Rick suspected their coach had done the same that he had and researched the pitcher the team would be facing. After the other team was up by two runs in the second, Rick had Daryl try the slider he’d been working on. 

It worked like a charm. Daryl struck out three in a row during the third inning and then left two runners stranded in the fourth inning. 

Their pitcher was good, but the shortstop seemed more interested in flirting with a girl in the stands than watching the game. Rick counted at least three hits that the kid should have caught, but missed because of inattention.  

They won by two hits. 

It took an hour after the game to get all the kids rounded up and onto the bus. Local newspaper and online reporters were there to do interviews and take pictures. Daryl being their main target. Rick felt sorry for him, with every person that stuck a mic or a phone in his face, Daryl would retreat further into himself and snarl just that bit more. If Daryl had a parent there, they probably would have swooped him up by now. But it was really up to Rick to save him.

“Okay folks, we got to get out of here and get some dinner. Thank you for your interest,” he said as he dismissed them. Daryl looked at him gratefully. 

Shane was busy getting kids on the bus when Rick and Daryl got there. It looked like they were the last ones, so T-dog slammed the doors as soon as they were settled and headed out. It was a couple of minutes before Rick realized that instead of sitting alone or with Shane, he was sitting with Daryl. 

Daryl who smelled faintly of sweat and sunshine. Rick chewed his lip as he tried to think about Dale the janitor naked. Or maybe Blake. Even maybe Eugene. Just anyone that wasn’t the person sitting next to him.

The ride to the hotel was short,so Rick only got through a hundred numbers in pi before they were pulling up. Which was good, considering he only knew a hundred and fifty places and would have had to start over. 

One of the parents had ordered a couple dozen pizzas to celebrate the team winning, so Rick didn’t have to worry about finding a restaurant. He didn’t feel right with having the rambunctious boys spread out all over the lobby or in the little restaurant, and they hadn’t reserved a conference room, so he had them all go up to their floor. Soon enough, the boys were in and out of each other’s rooms, sharing pizza and enjoying their win. Shane had to confiscate a few more balls when one got too close to a light fixture in the hall. 

It was nearly two hours before they settled down and started running through the showers. Rick was just getting his kit out for his shower when he realized Carl’s picture wasn’t in his bag. He remembered packing it. But then he recalled at the lunch stop that Glenn has asked to see a picture of Carl and then it had been passed around the bus. Rick was sure most of the boys couldn’t care less, but they’d faked it anyway. It kinda rankled a bit that most of the team hadn’t seen his son in person.

It was a good bet the photo was still on the bus. 

He met Shane in the hall as the other man was going to the room they were sharing, “Hey, gotta get something off the bus. Be back in a few minutes.”

“Okay, I’m gonna do a bed check and then hit the shower,” Shane replied, clapping Rick on the shoulder distractedly.

Rick nodded his head, “I’ll be back in a few minutes to help you….with the bed check, not the shower.”

Shane’s good-natured laugh followed Rick as he headed for the steps to get to the parking lot. The bus was parked in the back of the lot since it took up so much space. Rick was expecting it to be locked, but the door opened easily when he pushed on it, he’d have to say something to T-dog about that, especially since the camera wasn’t working.  

He wasn’t sure where he saw the picture last, so he was in the middle of checking all the seats when his phone rang.

“Hey Lori,” Rick said with a bit of relief. He was afraid she wasn’t talking to him anymore.

“Rick,” her voice just as cold as it had been over the course of the last month.

“We won today! And you’ll be happy to know our next game will be at home because we’ll have to play Woodbury.”

“That’s great Rick, I’m sure all the parents will be happy to hear that.”

“I thought you would too,” he said with some puzzlement.

“Where is Shane’s key?”

Rick cocked his head to the side in confusion, “What?”

He heard her sigh before she elaborated, “I need the key to Shane’s place, I know you have one here at the house.”

“Why do you need the key to Shane’s place? Is something wrong?”

“Today was the last straw Rick. Carl needed you, he hadn’t seen you since Thursday and you weren’t there for him. I’m done.”  Her voice was firm and as cold as an arctic wind.

Rick flinched as he tried to process what she said. “Lori, you knew I had this game today. And you were the one that left on Friday night. I could have spent it with him, hell, you could have come with us today.”

“Carl couldn’t miss his game to go halfway across the state to watch a game that he doesn’t even play. What kind of message would that send?” She huffed.

“It sends the message that my family is involved in my life and that maybe my son could be part of his future high school’s winning season,” Rick said through gritted teeth.

There was a pause and Rick was certain that Lori would be messing with her hair while she thought, “It doesn’t matter. I’m done Rick. You aren’t here when we need you. And maybe I’m being too demanding, but I need you. And if you can’t be here, then it’s best we stop trying.”

Rick fell into one of the seats, “Lori, you can’t be serious. I have to work and make money, we don’t have money for me to sit at home waiting on your beck and call.”

“Don’t turn this into a fight…” she started.

“I will if I damn well please! You’re telling me,  _ over the phone _ , that our marriage is over just because I wasn’t there for Carl’s game today.”

“Damn it Rick! It’s not just today! It’s been the whole damn year. It seems like every time I turn around you’re gone! And it’s always something to do with that damn school or baseball!”

“It’s my fucking job, Lori!” Rick roared.

“I know that! But it seems to me that your job could have been so much more if you’d have wanted it in college. And then I could see the long hours. But it’s not worth it just to be a teacher and a high school coach!” She yelled back at him.

Rick pinched his nose, “Oh, here we go. I should have gone pro and then it wouldn’t matter how much time I spent away, as long as you got to cash the paychecks.”

There was a short pause, and then, “You think what you want Rick. In the meantime, I’ll pack up some of your stuff and take it over to Shane’s for you. You don’t have to come home and tell Carl, I’ll do it.”

“The fuck you will! Don’t you tell him a damn thing. We’ll tell him together or not at all. You hear me Lori?”

“I hear you Rick! Everyone can hear you! You want us to tell him together, fine, we can do that. After church tomorrow, we’ll talk to the pastor. Maybe he will help.”

Rick took a long breath, “If you think I’m going to sit in front of that judgmental asshole while we tell our son our marriage is over, you are crazy. I’m done with that church. I won’t even be home yet anyway, it’s a four hour drive by bus. But I do want to see Carl as soon as I get home.”

“Why, so you can poison him against me?”

“Lori, I’m not a monster. You’re a good mom, and I thought you were a great wife, but I guess...never mind.  I’m not going to say anything to Carl about it unless we’re both there.”

“I can do that. I need to go. Mom is going to sit with Carl while I take your stuff over to Shane’s.”

“Can I talk to him?” Rick asked hopefully.

“He’s in bed.”

Rick should have known that, it was nearly eleven. He didn’t know what else to say. What could he say that wouldn’t just prolong the conversation and make it nastier. “Fine, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He hung up the phone before she could reply. Not that he had to have the last word, just that he didn’t want to hear whatever it was she had to say.

Scenarios of what would happen the next day swirled in his mind as he sat with his head in his hands. It was hard to believe his marriage was over. This should be a memorable time for him, his first time going to the playoffs as a coach, but instead he felt his life crumbling around him. No more wife and child, white picket fence, and perfect home. 

At least he still had his career. Nothing would take that from him.

He wasn’t sure how long he sat there before he felt the bus tilt as someone got on, he looked up to see Daryl, obviously fresh from the shower, with a curious look on his face

“Coach?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I tried to tone Lori down a bit, but it just didn't work. But on the bright side, Daryl is there.


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And now...What you've all been waiting for...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for your lovely comments! So many! I can't wait to see what you have to say about this chapter!
> 
> Thank you to my lovely betas 1Lostone and TWDObsessive, they are super cool! Also, I added and tweaked after they looked at it, so any mistakes are mine.
> 
> This is for my very good friend TWDObsessive. She was cracking the whip tonight to get me to post on time!

Rick meant to tell Daryl that he was fine and to go back to his room, tried to hide his pain,but what came out was a sob of grief that he didn’t know he’d been holding in.

Daryl pushed his way down the aisle until he was close enough to touch, “ _ Rick _ ? You okay?”

Rick mutely shook his head and before he knew it he had pulled Daryl to him and buried his face in Daryl’s tight stomach, “She’s kicking me out.”

“What? Why?” 

“Says I’m not home enough,” Rick said as he wrapped his arms around Daryl’s thighs and pulled him closer.

“Man, you go home every night, ‘cept when she kicks you out. My old man used to be gone for weeks,” Daryl said. 

“I need to spend more time with Carl too.”

Daryl snorted, “Hey, you can do that. Just bring him to the games and shit, it ain’t hard.”

Rick shook his head again, “She doesn’t want me to take him to the games, wants me to go to his soccer games.”

“No offense to Carl, Rick, but isn’t it just a bunch a kids running back and forth chasing after a ball?”

“Right now, but later, after he’s played for a few more years, it gets more competitive. It’s just like baseball. You start out with T-ball, and kids that don’t know which way to run and then you work your way up to little league.”

“Can’t he just switch over to baseball, or T-ball then?”

“No,” Rick said, his tone saying more about how he felt about that than a million words could have.

“So, she told you she’s done over the phone? Right after we just won this game?” Disbelief coloring Daryl’s voice.

“Yes,” Rick said with a hitch that threatened to turn into a sob.

Daryl tentatively ran his hands through Rick’s hair, “I’m sorry man. I know you didn’t want that to happen.”

“No,” Rick whispered as he squeezed his eyes shut.

The sound of the crickets just outside the bus was the only sound except Rick’s quiet cries for far longer than he would care to admit. Daryl’s fingers massaged his scalp and then moved further down to rub across Rick’s shoulders and back up. The front of Daryl’s shirt became damp with Rick’s tears.

Rick rubbed his face trying to find a dry patch, but rucking up Daryl’s shirt instead. He inhaled softly, taking in the clean smell of him now that Daryl had had time to shower. The small hairs on Daryl’s stomach tickled Rick’s nose.

“Shane sent me to look for you,” Daryl said quietly, his hands still roving over Rick wherever he could reach.

Rick nodded and, pulling away from Daryl, he sent Shane a quick text,  _ Guy talk with Daryl. Not sure how long. Be in later. _

His phone buzzed back almost immediately,  _ ‘k buddy. Don’t keep him too long _

“Not ready to talk to him yet. He’ll know as soon as he sees me. He’s in too good of a mood for me to bring him down now,” Rick explained to Daryl.

“I’m sure he’ll understand.”

“Yeah, he would,” Rick said as he looked up at Daryl, “but I don’t want to talk to anyone else right now.”

Daryl licked his lips, ‘Rick…”

The light from a fluorescent lamp post in the parking lot cast a halo around Daryl’s head, making his hair glow. Rick looked at the young man in front of him, the man who’d shown time after time that he wanted Rick, wanted to be with him. Lori may have walked away, but Daryl was here, standing in front of Rick and was so very close.

“What...what is it that...why do you…” he couldn’t seem to articulate what he wanted to ask Daryl. But Daryl seemed to know what the question was.

“You’re there for me. For everyone. And,” Daryl licked his lips, “you noticed me.”

“Daryl…”

“Done told ya, you’re the only person I ever felt that way about. I don’t know what else you need.”

“I just need...I just need,” Rick blinked back the fresh tears that threatened to fall and took a deep breath, “I need...you.”

Moaning low in his throat, Daryl lowered himself until he was on his knees in front of Rick, “Don’t. You’re just upset ‘cause of your wife.”

Rick sniffed hard and shook his head, “No. I was trying too hard. Putting aside what I wanted for what I thought was the right thing,” his eyes bored into Daryl’s, “I don’t know what will happen tomorrow, but for now, right now, I want you.”

“Please don’t play me. I can’t handle you jerking me around anymore,” Daryl pleaded.

Rick’s eyes shone, looking at Daryl with new eyes, seeing him as a man that he could admit he wanted, “Daryl,” he whispered hoarsely, “kiss me.”

“The camera…”

“Glenn broke it, remember?” 

Daryl whimpered and leaned forward to capture Rick’s mouth in a sweet kiss. But Rick didn’t want sweet, he wanted intense. So he grabbed Daryl by the back of the head and kissed him back hard, teeth scraping along Daryl’s lips. Daryl responded in kind and pushed on Rick until he was laying back on the bus seat with Daryl on top of him.

Even with the camera out, and being in a dark corner of the parking lot, they was a good chance they’d be found. Rick wouldn’t normally take such a risk, but all his common sense had gone out the window once he’d finally realized there wasn’t any point to pushing Daryl away. He’d regret it if they were caught, more for Daryl’s sake than his own, but he couldn’t find the will to care at the moment. Not when he had Daryl in his arms.

It wasn’t long until their hands were roaming all over each other’s bodies and they were grinding together in a writhing dance all their own. Rick was the first to reach between them and free his cock. Daryl released his own shortly after. The tiny shocks of electricity that shot through Rick’s body reminded him of the time in Daryl’s bedroom when they were in the same position on Daryl’s bed.

“Wanna touch you,” Daryl murmured as he pulled Rick’s polo shirt free of his pants. 

“Yes,” Rick hissed between his teeth. 

Daryl let his hands and mouth wander down Rick’s chest, pausing to rub nipples into tight nubs before leaving a trail of open mouthed kisses down Rick’s torso, hands in Daryl’s still damp hair encouraging him the whole way.  

He stopped when he got to Rick’s belt and looked up with a question in his eyes. Letting out a shuddering breath, Rick nodded his head. Daryl licked his lips and carefully unbuckled Rick’s belt before opening his pants and exposing his boxer briefs.

“Gonna blow ya,” Daryl said matter of factly as he tugged on Rick’s underwear. 

Rick scrabbled to push his pants down and out of the way. He hadn’t had a blowjob in more than a year. Lori only gave them for very special occasions, and then only until she was bored with it. Which meant Rick usually had to finish himself up while she looked on with disinterest. 

Daryl held Rick in his hand, looking speculatively at Rick’s hard and flushed cock. It wasn’t quite as big as Daryl’s but it was still very nice. Biting his lip, Daryl flicked his eyes up to Rick’s.

“You don’t have to,” Rick whispered, trying to decipher the look Daryl was giving him in the dimness of the bus.

“I know,” Daryl replied as he darted out his tongue, just brushing against the crown of Rick’s cock.

Closing his eyes, Rick let his head fall back. Focusing all his thoughts on Daryl and the way he was slowly lapping at his cock, teasing and torturing as he licked and nipped his way from base to top and then back again. Rick was content to let him explore. Daryl seemed determined to learn all he could about Rick’s body and make him feel better. 

Rick’s eyes snapped open when he felt cool air instead of Daryl’s tongue. He raised his head and looked uncertainly down between his legs. Apparently, that was what Daryl was waiting for, because as soon as he had Rick’s gaze, he lowered his head and sucked down as much as he could before raising his head up and off with a loud  _ pop _ . 

"Fuck," said Rick, the word harsh and unexpected.

Daryl smiled that little smile that always made Rick’s heart stutter and then went back to his task. This time not pulling off on his upward stroke, but pausing to work the head with his tongue before plunging back down. Rick ignored as best he could the occasional scrape of teeth and the small gagging noises. He’d lay good money that this was possibly Daryl’s first time doing this.

Daryl began to fondle Rick’s scrotum and let his finger massage Rick’s perineum. “Oh, god,” Rick moaned as he let his head fall back again. His eyes scrunched up and his toes curled in his shoes.

It was good, but Rick knew it could be better. Without looking, he grabbed Daryl’s hand and pulled it to his mouth and sucked in two fingers. He laved them as best he could, Daryl’s low groans goading him on. Once he was satisfied with their wetness, he directed Daryl’s hand back to where it had been and then further, hitching his hips up in hopes that Daryl understood what he was after. 

Smirking, even with his mouth full, Daryl twirled his finger around Rick’s tight hole, getting it good and moist before slowly pushing it in. He pulled it right out again when Rick caught his breath sharply, but as soon as Rick let out the breath, Daryl pushed in again. 

Rick couldn’t control his body, his hips pumping up and then down, seeking the pleasure of Daryl’s mouth and the sharp thrill of his finger. He wouldn’t last much longer, not with how Daryl figured out what he was doing with that wicked little finger. 

When he add the second and pushed in far enough to find Rick’s prostate, it was all over and Rick was coming hard in Daryl’s mouth. Daryl puffed out his cheeks, but took all that Rick gave him, his tongue still working the head and his fingers still massaging inside of Rick.  

“Holy shit, Daryl. Where did you learn that?” Rick asked after he caught his breath.

Daryl shrugged and looked away, “Been studyin’.”

Rick sat up and gave Daryl a curious look.

Huffing out a laugh, Daryl said, “We learned about it in biology last year. I jus’ looked it up in the library. Everybody just thought I was studying for the test, but I wanted to know how that thing worked. Didn’t really think I’d get the chance with you.”

“Well, you passed the test,” Rick said with a chuckle. 

Biting his lip, Daryl absently rubbed his crotch.

Rick paused in adjusting his pants, “Need any help with that?”

Daryl’s cheeks flushed so dark that Rick could see even in the greyness of the bus. “I can take care of it. ‘Sides, you said Shane can smell sex a mile away.”

“I won’t get any on me,” Rick said. Truth be told, right then he want to touch Daryl in the worst way. 

Daryl’s tongue darted out and ran around his lips, his eyes speculative. “No, I can do it, just...just let me look at you. Just stay like that for a minute.”

It was Rick’s turn to flush, all he had to do was lounge in the seat with his pants undone and his shirt rucked up for Daryl to get off.  It wouldn’t hurt if Rick sweetened the deal though, so he bit his lip seductively and ran his hand slowly up and down his chest.

“Jesus fuck, Rick!” Daryl admonished. 

Rick chuckled again and let his hand travel further until it cupped his slowly waning erection, Daryl’s eyes tracking every movement as his hand worked furiously over his own arousal. 

Not able to stand just watching him, Rick slid of the seat so that he was nearly in Daryl’s lap, his knees astride Daryl’s. Eye’s narrowed, Daryl’s mouth fell open and Rick couldn’t resist and planted his mouth on Daryl’s. 

Daryl moaned and Rick deepened the kiss, letting his tongue chase his own taste around Daryl’s mouth. They were so close that the back of Daryl’s hand sketched up and down Rick’s stomach as he worked his cock. Rick reached between them and grasped Daryl’s balls and rubbed until they tightened in his hand.

“Gonna come!” Daryl cried out.

Rick wanted to put his mouth on Daryl and catch it, but the space was too confining and there was no way he could contort himself in time, so he contented himself with moving his hand so that it was rubbing the tip of Daryl’s cock in hopes of getting it that way.

With a strangled cry, Daryl came, spurting between their fingers and getting it on both of them. Rick didn’t even care. If they had the time and they were more comfortable, he would be up for a round two. But they were in a school bus on borrowed time. He clung to Daryl while he could.

Daryl let his head fall on Rick’s shoulder, taking long deep breaths as he came down from his high. After a moment he spoke, “So, are we...are we doing this now.”

Rick squeezed his eyes shut and nodded his head. His heart and his mind so at odds that he couldn’t speak. 

They held each other for a moment, before Daryl pulled away and looked at Rick pensively, “How long do we have to hide?”

Rick looked away, not able to meet those hopeful eyes, “A while. A year at least. Maybe even longer.”

“No,” Daryl said as he shook his head, “I can’t. Not that long. I’m not ashamed.”

“Got nothin’ to do with being ashamed. You know people would think it’s wrong and make us miserable.” He looked back at Daryl, “You have to know that.”

“You keep saying it, I know you believe it. But if we’re in love, what does it matter what people will say?” Daryl asked.

Rick shook his head, “It’s not what they’ll say, it’s what they will do. They’ll look into this past season and see if they can find where I’ve favored you. Or ask around and see if I’ve tried to get with a student before. Try and convince you I’m a pedophile...”

“No!” Daryl protested. “I did it, I started this.”

Pulling Daryl back into his embrace, Rick said, “That’s why we need to lay low for a while. Make it look like this started after you got out of school. No one’s gonna believe what really happened.”

“That I begged you and threw myself at ya?” 

“That I touched a student that I had no business touching,” Rick said firmly.

Daryl pursed his lips and nodded his head, “Okay. I get it. We’ll lay low for a while. Let some time go by.”

“That’s good. We can do this Daryl. We just need to be careful.”

A bolt of lightning lit up the bus, followed by a sharp crack of thunder. Daryl jumped with the sound and Rick just held him tighter, knowing how the storms frightened him. Rick was scared too, not of this thing between them. But of the consequences when it all fell apart. 

Because it would, no matter what he told Daryl, and Rick was going to lose everything. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, happily ever after? But what about the other eleven chapters? Hmmmmm...


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An old friend returns.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys are really worried about that camera...
> 
> Thank you to 1Lostone and TWDObsessive for all their wonderful beta work. You can blame Lost for the camera, she's the one that told me there would be one on the bus. ;)
> 
> This is for my wonderful friend TWDObsessive. She is super cool.

Rick waited for the guilt. But it didn’t come. Not this time. 

His rational mind told him it should be there, bowing him down with the weight of it. But he couldn’t find it. Instead all Rick felt was a calm acceptance. 

Lori had made it clear they were finished, she wasn’t going to try anymore and Rick didn’t have it in him to even care. The thought of his marriage being over was crushing, but he realized it was the idea of being married he was going to miss, not Lori. He wasn’t even sure why he’d tried so hard. 

He really shouldn’t do this thing with Daryl, there would still be consequences if they were found out now. But Daryl had graduated and the end of the season, while prolonged this year, was fast approaching. Rick wasn’t sure what would happen if they were found out later, but it shouldn’t matter if they could wait a year or so. Or maybe they’d never go public. It wasn’t anyone’s business. 

Daryl was running ahead of him in the rain, it didn’t look like it would let up anytime soon, so they were making for the hotel. It was probably for the best. This way they would have a good argument for why they’d been on the bus so long. And the rain washed away the smell of sex that Rick was sure that Shane would pick up on. 

They paused just inside a side door, Rick was reluctant to make any move that would be suspicious, he was sure there was a camera trained on the entryway. He might have come to terms with this change in the relationship, but he knew society still wouldn’t. There was no need to create a video record. So far, there was no electronic trail of anything between Rick and Daryl other than teacher and student. 

Rick hesitated before heading up the steps to the floor the team was on, drinking in Daryl’s rain soaked body. Daryl wet, either from a shower or rain, was one of Rick’s favorite things to see. He wouldn’t get another chance to appreciate it until they got home tomorrow. Their interlude on the bus had lifted a floodgate and now he didn’t want to try and hold back the water any longer. They would just have to be smart for a while.

Daryl’s own eyes flicked up and down Rick’s body in a echo of Rick’s look just seconds before. He bit his lip and nodded his head in a gesture of farewell as he slipped past Rick and through the fire door. Daryl wasn’t stupid. He wasn’t about to let on either, not when Rick was so opposed to it.

Shane was just coming out of the shower when Rick got back to their room.

“Damn, you look like a drowned puppy,” Shane laughed when he saw Rick.

Rick huffed out snort, “We were gonna wait for the rain to let up a bit, but it seemed like it was just getting worse. So we made a run for it.”

“Ya’ll get squared away then?” Shane asked as he slipped on an old pair of sweats.

“Yeah, he’s just feeling a bit of pressure. Feels like the whole thing is riding on his shoulders,” Rick hated the half truth. But he knew Shane would ask and it was good enough reason for Daryl to have stayed on the bus with Rick.

“He’s a good kid, too bad we didn’t have him on the team since freshman year.” Shane shook his head as he headed back to the bathroom to brush his teeth, “We coulda convinced him to try for college ball.”

Rick slowly worked his way out of his wet clothes. Shane didn’t know that it had taken Daryl since freshman year to even be able to play on the team, or why he’d even done it. A flush crept up his body as he thought about the last few months. He’d never imagined his life would take such a turn. And because of a student.

Shane’s voice broke his rumination, “You okay?”

“What?”

Shane flopped on his bed and chuckled, “You’re standing there with your pants undone and staring off into space. You missing Lori?”

He knew he should tell Shane. Tell him now before they got home. “She…” Rick blew out a long breath and finished taking his clothes off, his eyes anywhere but looking at Shane. “She called me. Said she was gonna take some of my stuff over to your place.”

“Why would she do that?” Shane asked while fluffing his pillows.

Rick had made it to the bathroom door, had a hand on the handle, “She says we’re done.”

Shane bounded out of the bed, hurrying to Rick’s side. Only stopping when Rick held up a hand, “It’s been a while coming. You know that,” he gestured to the shower, “I just wanna take a hot shower and go to bed. Okay?”

“You sure man?” the concern thick in Shane’s voice.

Rick nodded his head and gave a half-hearted smile. “Looks like I’ll be hitting your couch again.”

“Aw, fuck that man. Daryl will just have to give up sleeping in his own room. I’m sure he won’t mind sharing for a bit.”

Cocking his head to the side, Rick said, “Not sure if that’s appropriate.”

Shane barked out a laugh as he headed back to his bed, “You are such a prude. School’s out, and Daryl’s graduated. ‘Sides, it ain’t like you to even look at a guy. Not since college. I think that Jesus dude used up all your gay.”

Bless Shane and his naive and narrow outlook. It wasn’t that he didn’t care, it was more he didn’t feel the need to understand. As far as he was concerned, Rick had only experimented in college, like Shane had tried marijuana. Shane had decided he didn’t like being high and he probably assumed Rick didn’t like being gay. Hopefully their friendship would survive the fallout when Rick and Daryl went public. Shane was a staunch friend and Rick would need his unwavering loyalty. 

***

The boys were all in the best of moods on the ride home, hollering and rough housing and just generally being rambunctious. Rick and Shane were in the middle of the bus, hoping to keep the exuberance to an acceptable level. Daryl sat in the back with some of the other seniors, Rick could almost feel the heat of his glance every once in awhile.

When they got near the school, there was a line of cars and folks next to the road. Signs were held up by smiling people congratulating the team on the win and encouraging them to win the next game. The scene reminded Rick of when he and Shane had gone to state when they were students. It thrilled him that his team would get to have that feeling of overwhelming joy and pride.

Shane jumped up and hollered, “That’s for you, boys!  Wave at the nice folks!”

The bus rocked as the boys hurried to lean out the windows and wave at the people. Rick hoped they would remember this day for a long time. Sure, if they actually won state there would be an even bigger celebration, but this was the first time they’d been treated like returning heroes and it was worth remembering.

He chanced a glance in Daryl’s direction and his heart skipped a beat when he saw that sweet little smile that tore Rick up inside. Since everyone was focused on what was going on outside the bus, Rick let his glance linger. The afternoon light lit Daryl with a soft glow that made his hair look like gold and his face gleam. Daryl must have sensed Rick’s scrutiny, because he turned and caught Rick in his own gaze. 

The air between them seemed to crackle with promise. Rick nearly fell into vertigo from the shear force of it. Shane knocking Rick’s shoulder with his hip broke the spell and  reminded Rick where they were. Rick flushed and quickly looked out the window and waved.

Everything was utter chaos. The bus had pulled into the school parking lot while Rick had been entranced. T-dog was looking at Rick expectantly, his hand on the handle for the door. The whole bus was surrounded with cheering people that were banging on the bus. It was almost scary. 

Shane and Rick shared a look before Shane headed to the front of the bus. He motioned for T-dog to open the door and then stood in the opening, effectively blocking the entrance. 

“All right, all right! We’re all excited about the win and can’t wait for the next game,” he shouted over the din. “And I’m sure you wanna get at your boy to congratulate him. But ya’ll are gonna have to back up and let the boys off the bus. They’ll come to you. Okay?”

Rick watched as the crowd backed away from the bus. He could pick out individual parents here and there, a good many had gone with them to the away game, so he wasn’t sure why they were acting so crazy now. Must have gotten whipped up with the wait. They probably had gotten back a good forty-five minutes before the slow moving bus.

Shane and Rick then oversaw the boys leaving the bus, making sure no one left anything behind. Once everyone cleared out, Rick stayed to double check. He could just hear Shane telling everyone not to forget to go to DQ for the traditional after win ice cream. 

Rick smiled, he was looking forward to that at least. Another hour or so before he would have to face the reality of moving in with Shane again. It would be fine until the end of the playoffs, but it wouldn’t be a permanent solution. Not by a long shot. 

There was another cheer when Rick finally made it off the bus, he brushed it off with as much humility as he could. He gave a short speech thanking the parents and families for all their support before encouraging everyone to meet up at the Dairy Queen. 

His eyes strayed to where Daryl loitered by the back of the bus. Daryl hadn’t even looked for a family member to greet him, Shane and Rick the only two to see about his welfare now. It made Rick’s heart clench to think that even Daryl’s own brother couldn’t be bothered to come out and celebrate with him. 

It still took a good half hour for the parking lot to clear out. If this was what it was like just to win the second game of the playoffs, Rick couldn’t imagine what would happen if they actually won the state title. Best not put the cart before the horse though. They played Woodbury next and they’d already lost to them during regular season. 

Once most of the parking lot was empty and the bus had gone, Rick searched for Shane and Daryl. He’d really like to get out of the hot sun and off the burning pavement, get his blizzard, and then get back to Shane’s and put his feet up and decompress. He still had the awful task of telling Carl about the breakup of his parents. 

As he scanned the lot his eyes stumbled on a red truck. If he didn’t know any better, he’d think it was his. It certainly looked like the same model and year. But Rick was pretty sure that his was in a salvage lot somewhere and not here.

Then he noticed Daryl standing next to the truck, holding onto the mirror possessively, talking to Shane. Rick cocked his head and looked closer. The plate looked to be the same as his truck, but he’d never actually memorized the number, so he wasn’t sure. He didn’t even realize he was walking towards it until he was at the back bumper.

Daryl caught Rick’s eye just then and gave a sheepish smile. Rick put a hand over his mouth to cover his shock. His eyes threatened to tear up and his throat constricted.

“Can you believe it, Rick?” Shane asked, awe coloring his voice. “Daryl got his brother to get your truck out of the junkyard and they’ve been working on it since the tornado.”

Reaching out his hand hesitantly, Rick touched the tailgate of the truck. “You did this?”

Daryl shrugged and looked away, over toward the ball field, “Merle helped. He’s got a buddy that has a bike shop. Truck’s body is pretty common, so it wasn’t hard to scrounge the parts. I did a lot of it myself and the shop owner said he’d put it down as apprentice hours, so it wasn’t a waste of time. Merle brought it over and dropped it off while we were gone.”

“When?” Rick asked as he slowly walked around the truck, he couldn’t fathom how Daryl had found the time. 

“Anytime I wasn’t in school or practice or at a game. Not like I had anything else to do,” Daryl said as he looked anywhere but at Rick. “The hardest part was waitin’ on the paint to dry.”

“Damn, son!” Shane exclaimed, “I thought you were a good pitcher, but you sure know how to put a truck back together!”

Rick opened the driver’s side door and looked in, “It looks better than it did.”

“Had to get a new seat. The other one got broken and it was full ‘a glass anyway.”

Shutting the door, Rick walked around the front of the truck, noticing that Daryl had replaced the bow tie too, it had been cracked for years, the tornado hadn’t done that. He stopped when he was in front of Daryl. Mindful of Shane, Rick pulled Daryl into a full body hug. 

He didn’t have to worry, Shane came over and wrapped his arms around the two of them, “This is the best damn day ever!”

Rick chuckled and stole a selfish moment and dragged in a long breath so that he could smell Daryl’s warm skin. He smelled like sweat and soap. Not exactly an erotic scent, but since it was Daryl, it was enough to make Rick feel something bloom in his chest. Admiration or adoration, he wasn’t sure which.

“Let’s get the hell out of here, I’m Jonesing for a burger,” Shane said as he pulled away, smacking Rick on the ass as he went.

Daryl held up the key to the truck, “Wanna drive?”

“Damn straight!” Rick whooped.

The grin on his face wouldn’t budge the whole ride over. Shane had gone ahead in the Camaro and Rick and Daryl were in the truck. The only thing that bothered Rick was how much time and money Daryl had poured into the truck.

“I’ll pay you back,” Rick said, “I can still get the insurance money and…”

“Don’t need paid back. Told ya the parts were free or just laying around anyway and I got to put the hours towards my apprenticeship. You were doing me a favor.”

Rick shook his head, “Nah, I know better, Daryl. You probably had to replace the engine and the cab. Those aren’t just laying around parts.”

“Got the engine from a wreck. It was T-boned, but the engine was good. Cab came from one caught in a flood. All your wiring was still good, so we didn’t need to use what was in the flooded out one. I wouldn’t lie to you about this, Rick.”

“You still would have had to have paid for the parts from the salvage yard,” Rick knew no one gave a working engine away for free.

“Can you jus’ say thank you and let it go? I promise the parts aren’t stolen,” Daryl said, exasperatedly. “It’s the least I can do for ya.” 

“Daryl,” Rick began.

“Rick,” Daryl cut him off, patience obviously wearing thin.

Gripping the steering wheel, Rick mustered up his humility again, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

When Rick shifted the truck into gear after a stop sign, he let his hand brush against Daryl’s thigh. Daryl captured it before Rick could pull it away, rubbing a small circle into the back of it. Rick felt his face flush, but he didn’t pull away until he had to shift again. They were turning into the restaurant then, so he kept his hand on the gear shift until they parked.  

Shane was already on his way to the pickup, so Rick got out of the truck without looking at Daryl like he wanted to. It was selfish anyway, he’d have time later. 

“Oh, man! The owner is giving everyone free food. Well, everyone on the team.” Shane said with a smile.

“That’s awful kind of him,” Rick replied as he headed for the entrance.

“Says it’s to thank us for always coming here after a game and to congratulate us on our win and to encourage us to go all the way to state,” Shane said as he motioned to the marque under the sigh.

“Congratulations and good luck King County baseball!” it read.

Rick smiled and looked around for Daryl, glad that he wouldn’t have to worry about paying for the ritual treat. His smile faltered though, when he found Daryl. He was talking to Spencer, their heads close together. 

“Fucker was pissed when the owner’s daughter wouldn’t give him a free meal,” Shane said in his ear. “Said he wasn’t part of the team anymore and he could pay or get the hell out of her line.”

Rick snorted, but kept his eyes trained on the two young men. He should look away before anyone noticed, but then again, the animosity between Spencer and himself was well known to the team. He only was able to tear his eyes away when Daryl darted a look in his direction and then pulled away from Spencer. Rick didn’t wait to see if Daryl was coming his way.

He was just finishing his blizzard when Shane ambled over again, “Hey, listen. I”m going to get going. I’m wore out. Gonna take a long ass nap when I get home. If you don’t mind hitting the couch for tonight, we can see about getting you a bed and stuff tomorrow. Sound cool?”

“Sounds great. I’m not in a big hurry to get back just yet anyway. Wanna take the truck out for a spin. I think they changed the gearing a bit when they worked on it and I want to see if I can figure it out before I stall out in the middle of the road like a dumbass.” His conversation with Carl would have to wait a bit.

Shane nodded, “Good plan.” He looked over to where Daryl was walking towards them, probably knowing by Shane’s body language that he was ready to go, “You takin’ Daryl in case anything happens?”

Rick looked Shane in the eye in disbelief, “What the hell is going to happen that I can’t handle?”

“Plenty!” Shane laughed as he patted Rick on the shoulder good naturedly. “I’ll see you back at the house.”

Rick licked his lips and blew out a breath as he watched Shane walk away. He would have several uninterrupted hours alone with Daryl, sanctioned by Shane, and no hangups to hold them back this time. The blaze in Daryl’s heated gaze meant that Daryl was thinking the same thing. Rick hurried to clean up his meal. He didn’t want to waste a single moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys are awesome. Thank you for all your comments and emails and dms and even some tumblr messages! I can't believe how much you all are enjoying this. I can't wait for you all to read the next chapter (and no, I'm not going to post it early...lol)


	26. Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And now, what you've all been waiting for... (I haven't said that before have I? Because then I'd sound like a dork) :D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting early because I'm so excited for you all to read this chapter. 
> 
> Thank you to the lovely and talented 1Lostone and TWDObsessive for all their hard work betaing. As usual, I messed with it after they looked at it, so any mistakes are mine.
> 
> This is a gift for my very good friend TWDObsessive. 
> 
> Thank you also to Justley for telling me it wasn't toooo corny.

Daryl bit his lip and looked to where Spencer was lounging at a picnic table. Turning back to Rick he said, “Gonna ditch him and then I’ll be ready to go.”

Rick nodded and motioned to the bathroom with his head, “I’m gonna make a pit stop and then I’ll meet you at the truck.” 

Giving a subtle thumbs up, Daryl turned and headed towards Spencer. Rick ignored the crawl of jealousy that invaded his stomach. Daryl had made it plain that Spencer was a poor substitute for Rick.

Daryl was already in the truck waiting for Rick, his arm hanging out of the window and his eyes nearly slits from the glare of the sun. Rick’s stomach did a little flip flop, in as short a time as he could manage, he was going to be intimate with this person. Daryl turned and caught Rick looking at him, a slow smile making it’s way across his face. 

Rick felt his own smile bloom, he was ready for this. He wouldn’t deny Daryl or himself any longer. This was what he wanted.

“Where we going?” Daryl asked when Rick got in the truck.

Rick turned the key over in his hand and shrugged, “Don’t have a place in mind. Shane just want’s a few hours to look at porn and jack off before taking his nap.”

He jumped at Daryl’s unexpectedly loud laughter. “Are you kidding me?”

Rick grinned and shook his head, letting his eyes fall shut at the thought of Shane on his computer looking at porn. “Nah, he’d never admit. Would swear he doesn’t need to because he’s got all kinds of dates, but I know he does,” Rick said after a moment.

“What’s he worried about?” Daryl asked. “Everyone does it.”

Putting the key in the ignition, Rick said, “I don’t know. I think Momma Walsh put the fear of god into him about masturbating.”

“So, what, does he like weird shit?” Daryl’s curiosity had been piqued.

“Nah, petite brunettes as far as I can tell. I mean, he’ll sleep with any woman that would sleep with him I think, but when he’s looking at porn, it’s the same thing every time.” Rick said as he looked both ways before leaving the lot.

Daryl fiddled with the radio and asked, “How do you know?”

“College,” was Rick’s answer.

“Oh, right,” Daryl said sarcastically as he settled on the oldies station, Aerosmith’s ‘Sweet Emotion’ filling the cab with music.

“Careful,” Rick teased back.

Daryl put up his hands in mock surrender and settled back in his seat. “So, where are we going,” he asked as he looked out the window.

“Don’t know. Got any ideas?”

Daryl bit his lip and thought a moment before answering, “Yeah, I think I do. We’re gonna need to use the four wheel drive though. Turn left at the light.”

After a good hour’s drive where Rick was certain Daryl was just having them go in circles, they turned onto a dusty road that led into a deeply wooded area. They drove another twenty minutes along the pitted and grown up trail. Daryl kept his eyes trained out the window and had Rick pull off into the brush and stop on the bank of a glimmering lake.

Daryl turned to Rick and smiled, “My aunt owns it. Doesn’t have road access, we’ve been trespassing up until now, but we’re on her land now.”

“Hold on,” Rick said as he put the truck in reverse and turned it around so that the bed of the truck faced the water. 

“Good idea,” Daryl said as he hopped out and made his way to the back of the truck.

Rick reached over and grabbed a couple of things out of the glove box before joining Daryl who had already lowered the tailgate and had made himself comfortable on it. He jumped up to sit next to Daryl and looked out over the water.

“How does your aunt own this and no one uses it?” Rick asked after a moment.

Daryl sighed and said, “Well, back before the war, my mom’s family owned all of this. But someone in the family got killed over in France and since he was gone, they lost his income and started selling it off. This was the last piece. She’s my great aunt, and she’s about ninety. Mean as a snake, the only woman my daddy was scared of.”

Rick had never asked about Daryl’s dad, and he wanted to know more. It was obvious he was a bastard, but how did he manage to have a kid like Daryl? “So, your dad…” Rick started.

He watched as Daryl’s face changed from open and reflective to shuttered and pained, he immediately regretted asking. “Daryl, you don’t have to tell me anything.”

Daryl looked out over the water and shook his head, “Nah, it’s fine.” He paused so long, Rick thought he wasn’t going to answer, but then he took a deep breath and started talking, “Ma died when I was little. House caught on fire.” Rick’s heart lurched, but Daryl kept going like it was old news, “Dad barely paid attention to us before she passed, and then all the sudden he had to take care of a teenager and a rugrat.” Daryl snorted at some memory, “Merle was a handful. In and out of juvie, talking back to pa, doing drugs. He weren't no picnic.”

Rick gritted his jaw, not wanting to point out that Daryl was defending a man that had beat Daryl, and Rick knew that Daryl was the polar opposite of Merle and hadn’t deserved any of it.

Daryl vaguely motioned to his back, “The first time, I’d been home for two days alone. Merle was in again and I don’t know where pa was. I had run out of easy shit to eat, no bread or cereal left, so I figured I’d make some mac ‘n cheese. Didn’t know you had to boil the noodles first and the drain them and then add the shit. It boiled over and the noodles caught fire. I put it out, but it stunk up the place and the burner never worked after that.”

He didn’t go into detail about what happened when his pa got home, Rick could guess though. “Next time...let’s see, I think one of my teachers called CPS. I don’t know why, I might have had a shiner.”

Rick put his hand on Daryl’s arm that was tight with tension, “Hey…” but he didn’t know what to say.

Daryl covered Rick’s hand with his own, “I’m good. I got older and he wasn’t around as much. And when Merle got back from the army they had a big blow up and pa kinda backed off after that.“ He motioned to his face, “That last time? I hadn’t seen him since, I don’t know, St. Patty’s day? He was pissed that I’d managed to keep the house up while he was gone.” He shook his head, “Dumb fucker was pissed I learned to get along without him after all the times he’d bitch about what a waste I was and how he hated taking care of me.”

“You said that was the last time you’d seen him?” Rick remembered that day that Daryl had come into school with his face all bruised up. 

Daryl snorted, “Yeah, he wasn’t expecting me to hit back.”

Rick couldn’t help himself, he leaned over and ran a hand through Daryl’s hair and down the side of his face to cup his cheek, “I’m sorry, I should have done something sooner.”

Shaking his head, Daryl said, “Ain’t on you. I was hiding it pretty good by the time I met you, and ‘sides, he was gone a lot more than he was home by then too.”

Rick looked deep into Daryl’s eyes and rubbed his thumb along Daryl’s cheekbone, “You are stronger than that asshole ever thought about being.”

Daryl leaned into Rick’s touch, “Maybe.”

“Definitely,” Rick said and he fell forward and kissed Daryl softly on the lips.

The tension left Daryl’s body as he returned the kiss. They were soon embracing, Daryl’s arms pulling Rick tight against him. It was a little awkward and after a while Daryl slid off the tailgate to stand in front of Rick.

Rick scooted to the edge and Daryl slotted himself perfectly between Rick’s spread knees. They stared at each other for a long heartbeat, taking in the moment. Birds called from the trees and fish jumped in the lake, but all Rick was aware of was the man he held in his arms. 

Daryl licked his lips, “You sure?”

Nodding, Rick said, “Yeah. Very. Want you so much.”

A blush flew across Daryl’s face, “I ain’t ever actually…”

Rick smiled, “I have. I can…” It was Rick’s turn to blush, “I can bottom. I’d like to anyway.”

“Fuck,” Daryl breathed out long and low. He grabbed Rick’s hand and put it on his erection, “Look what you do to me.”

Rick pulled his hand away, bringing Daryl’s with it, and put it on his own erection, “See what you do to me?”

Daryl sighed and let his head fall forward a bit, Rick did the same and their foreheads drifted together. Daryl put his hands on Rick’s thighs and Rick grabbed Daryl’s hips and pulled him closer. They shared a few deep breaths, the air around them charged with electricity even as the sun started to wane over the horizon.

“You’re sure?” Daryl asked again.

“Very,” Rick said firmly.

With a deep moan, Daryl tilted his head to capture Rick’s mouth in a deep kiss, their tongues pushing and darting around in a blistering rush. Teeth occasionally clacked, but they didn’t pay it any mind, too wrapped up in the emotion of the kiss.

Daryl began tugging at Rick’s shirt, pulling it free of his pants. Rick wanted to do the same with Daryl, but wasn’t sure if it would be tolerated. They stopped kissing long enough for Daryl to pull Rick’s shirt over his head. 

Rick licked his lips and waited for Daryl to come back, but he was focused on Rick’s chest. He felt a bit self conscious about it, but Daryl was certainly admiring it. After a moment, Daryl grabbed the bottom of his own shirt, hesitated, and then pulled it off quickly and tossing it aside.

“Want to feel you,” he said.

“Yeah,” the only thing Rick could think to say.

They were back in each other’s arms in just a tick, running hands along warm skin and kissing wherever their lips happened to land. Cheeks, necks, shoulders, it didn’t matter. Bare skin was all that was necessary. 

Daryl seemed particularly fascinated with running his fingers over Rick’s nipples, making them stand up stiffly. Rick would have done the same to Daryl, but he had to keep pulling Daryl’s hips back so that Rick could grind their erections together.

By some silent mutual agreement, they broke apart long enough for Rick to shuck his pants, Daryl helping by popping Rick’s shoes off. The truck bed was hot against his bare ass, but Rick didn’t care. 

“God, I love the hair on your chest,” Daryl said as he ran a hand through it.

Rick snorted, he almost revealed that Lori had hated it and tried to get him to shave or wax it, but decided that he didn’t want to mention her when he was getting ready to have sex with someone else. Someone who actually seemed to like everything about him.

Daryl leaned in for a searing kiss as his hand stroked down Rick’s chest and further, capturing Rick’s hard cock and giving it a firm squeeze.

“Fuck!” Rick cried as his whole body spasmed at the touch. “C’mon Daryl. Takin’ too long.”

“Nah, got plenty of time. Sun’s not even down yet.”

Rick hadn’t even noticed, too caught up in their moment. Not that he cared, Daryl was right, they didn’t have anywhere to be.

“At least take your damn pants off,” Rick groused.

Daryl huffed out a laugh, but stood back and undid his pants, letting his cock out. It was flushed at the tip and a warm peach color down the shaft. Rick wanted to have it in his mouth again. He settled for giving it a sharp tug when Daryl stepped back into the V between Rick’s legs.

“Still got your pants on,” Rick growled.

“Thought it would be hot, you know, me kinda dressed and you not.”

Rick shook his head and leaned in for a kiss. He didn’t care, he just wanted Daryl. It was crazy and should be scary, but there was no denying it. 

Their cocks rubbed together as they kissed, sending sparks of pleasure throughout Rick’s body. Daryl’s hands roamed up Rick’s chest, around his neck, plunging into thick curls to hold Rick’s head just the way he wanted it to be and then back down across Rick’s body again. Rick let Daryl take control, content to let him explore.

When Daryl’s hands slipped lower, one on Rick’s aching cock and one drifting behind it, Rick let his legs fall apart to give more access. Daryl hummed and spit on a finger before going back and pushing a finger in Rick’s tight hole.

“Gonna need more than spit,” Rick gasped, “Haven’t done this in a while.”

Daryl smiled and stepped back. He pushed both his hands into his jeans pocket and produced a small bottle of lube and a condom, “Got’cha covered.”

Laughing, Rick asked, “You always carry around lube and a condom?”

“Didn’t. Not until you gave me a bj. Figured we’d get here eventually,” Daryl admitted.

Rick should probably be upset about that, but he knew it was true. Because here they were. He watched, breathless as Daryl squirted a bit of lube on his finger and then gasped as he ran it around the rim of Rick’s entrance. 

He shivered, not from the cold, but from the anticipation. Wanting to hurry up, but not wanting it to end. Needing to savor the moment, and impatient for the conclusion. 

Somehow he ended up on his back, Daryl between his legs stroking Rick’s cock while plunging a finger in and out of his slowly relaxing hole. His breath hitched as Daryl added a second finger. 

“God, you look so fucking hot,” Daryl groaned. “Want to fuck you now.”

Rick was so turned on he didn’t even think, just hissed out a long, “yes”. He could hear Daryl rip open the condom wrapper and put the thing on and then Daryl grabbed Rick’s legs and pulled him roughly to the end of the tailgate so that his ass was hanging over.

The nudge of Daryl’s cock was insistent and plunged in despite Rick’s not-quite-ready ass.

“Daryl!” Rick cried in a bit of shock. But Daryl didn’t seem to hear him, his eyes focused on where their bodies met as he continued to push forward. Rick grit his teeth and grabbed the edge of the tailgate and willed himself not to tighten up. 

It only took two aborted thrusts before Daryl was coming, his whole body wracked by tremors. Rick withheld his sigh as he reached for his cock in order to finish himself. He was already waning anyway due to the harsh intrusion he hadn’t expected. 

But Daryl grabbed his hand and stopped him, “Give me a minute. I can go again.”

Rick nodded and licked his lips. He laid his head back down and tried to relax and wait for Daryl to be ready again. There was an advantage to being eighteen, quick recovery time.

The sound of the forest and the lake surrounded them as Rick waited, his hand idly squeezing his cock to keep himself hard while Daryl’s hands made lazy patterns on Rick’s spread legs. It was only a minute or so more later that he felt give another shallow thrust. This time it had the desired effect and Rick moaned in pleasure. 

“All right?” Daryl asked.

“Yeah, c’mon.” Rick answered.

Daryl pushed Rick’s legs farther apart and began to move. It was uncoordinated and a bit rough, but it was doing the trick. Rick closed his eyes and let himself just feel - the way that Daryl’s hands alternated between rough pressure and easy caresses - or the way Daryl’s cock was stretching him open and how he could feel every bump and ridge as it passed through his tight ass. He’d be sore later, but he didn’t care. 

The bed of the truck was digging into his back and he was sure there would be bruises on his legs and ass, but when Daryl grabbed his cock, Rick couldn’t feel those little hurts anymore. All he felt was Daryl. In him and touching him.

“Gonna come!” he shouted, his orgasm bursting through despite Rick’s wish to savor the moment.

Daryl responded by pounding harder, the zipper from his jeans scratching along the insides of Rick’s legs, his hand pumping faster on Rick’s cock.

Rick’s whole body bowed up as he came, his release shooting over his chest. 

“Fuck!” Daryl shouted as he relentlessly hammered into Rick. It only took another moment and he was coming too. 

Pulling himself up, Rick grabbed Daryl and gave him a slow, intense kiss. Daryl wrapped his arms around Rick as he returned the kiss.

After a moment they pulled apart, Daryl staring deep into Rick’s eyes, “I love you.”

A sharp pain ran across his chest as Rick realized that he felt the same. “I love you, too,” he whispered.

Daryl did that funny little nod of his and pulled Rick to him again and hugged him fiercely. Rick barely even felt the fear that hovered just behind his heart.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was it worth the wait? Did it happen like you expected? Was it too corny? 
> 
> BTW, you all actually made me tear up with some of your comments last chapter, some with laughter and some because you were so sweet. Thank you.


	27. Chapter 27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rick hangs out with Carl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading! I love the comments!
> 
> Thank you to the illustrious 1Lostone and TWDObsessive for their beta work. They are awesome. I tweaked this after they looked at it (TWD looked at it in January and Lost looked at it in June!), so any mistakes are mine. 
> 
> This is a gift for my super awesome friend TWDObsessive.

The 11 o’clock news was on by the time Rick and Daryl got to Shane’s. They’d hung around the lake until it got dark, Daryl even jumping in and swimming in his jeans for a bit. Which meant he had to take them off and let them dry, which meant Rick got to see Daryl naked and wet again. Which meant Rick had to suck him off again. 

They drove thru for a late dinner. They were far enough from home that Rick didn’t recognize any of the kids at the fast food restaurant and Daryl didn’t seem to either. 

He was afraid they wouldn’t have anything to talk about on the way home, but Daryl surprised him,telling Rick that he knew it was important that they keep their relationship a secret for the time being. It was smart. And probably wouldn’t be hard to do, Daryl wasn’t much of a chatty Cathy anyway.

“Hey! I was starting to worry!” Shane said from the couch. He was in a pair of basketball shorts and had his feet up on the coffee table nursing a beer.

“Went swimming in a lake my aunt owns,” Daryl said as he passed by on his way to his room, his overnight bag slung over his shoulder.

Shane looked at Rick quizzically, “You went swimming?”

“Nah,” Rick said as he flopped down on the couch next to Shane, his eyes on the tv where the reporter was talking about a fatal car accident. “He swam, I made sure he didn’t drown.”

“Lori called looking for you,” Shane said.

“Shit!” Rick’s phone had died early in the day, and he hadn’t had a charger to charge it. He jumped up and plugged it in. As soon as it came on and booted up, he dialed her number.

“Rick!” she sounded angry, of course. “I was just going to bed.”

“Lori, listen. I’m sorry I didn’t call you back, my phone’s been dead.” 

“I don’t care, Rick,” she said with a sigh. “Did you get your stuff?”

He looked around the room, but didn’t see anything, “No? Where did you put it?”

“In Shane’s extra bedroom. Looked like you’ve been staying in there.” 

“Oh, haven’t gotten that far yet.” Lori obviously didn’t know that Daryl had been staying in the room, Rick wasn’t sure he wanted to tell her. Not yet anyway.

“If you don’t have everything you need, you can get it tomorrow when you pick up Carl,” she said.

Rick’s heart lept. He really wanted to see Carl. “What time can I be there? When do I have to bring him back?”

“After church. And he can spend the night if you want.” 

Rick really wanted Carl to spend the night, but he wasn’t sure where exactly he’d put his son. The floor didn’t sound ideal. And he’d have to okay it with Shane first.

Shane already had a thumbs up and a big grin on his face when Rick turned to ask him. Shane always did have a soft spot for Carl. They could figure out where to put him tomorrow. 

“Sounds good,” he told her.

Lori hesitated for a moment and then said, “I heard you won your game. Congratulations.”

“Thank you,” Rick said, slightly stunned.

“Who do you play next?”

“Woodbury. Probably be the end for us though. They already beat us in regular season.” 

“Oh!” she exclaimed, “Didn’t you hear? The coach was in a car accident today. That’s one of the reason’s I’d been calling you. At first they were just saying a local high school baseball coach, but then one of the ladies from the church called and told me who it was.”

“Wait, was it the one with the fatality?” he asked, shocked.

“Yes, but he wasn’t the one that died. It was his passenger. I don’t know who it was. His wife and daughter have been dead for years.”

Rick didn’t know anything about the guy’s personal life, so he had no idea who it could have been. “I’ll have to check with the district and see what they’re planning on doing about the game then. I’m sure they’ll rely on the assistant coach or something. Unless that’s who was in the car with him.”

“No, I’m certain I heard it was a woman. Maybe he was seeing someone.”

Rick shrugged, “I don’t know. Never cared for the guy, but I feel bad for the woman’s family.”

“Okay, well, I’ve got to go to bed. I have to watch the baby room tomorrow.”

He held back a smirk, Lori hated working in the baby room, and always seemed to wiggle out of it. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow. I lo…” Rick’s tongue tripped over the sentiment. It was just an old habit. He wasn’t sure how he felt about his wife anymore. Was he in love with her still, or was he missing what had been? 

Wondering about his feelings made him think fleetingly of Daryl. There was definitely desire there, and Daryl obviously was in love with Rick, but did Rick feel the same way? He wasn’t sure. 

“Goodbye, Rick.” Her voice wasn’t sad or remorseful, and it certainly didn’t have the warmth that Rick had been missing for the last few months. Almost as though they were mere acquaintances having a conversation while waiting in line at the DMV. 

He hung up, his emotions all over the place. Sadness, remorse, fear… Even though his marriage looked to be over, his career was still hanging in the balance. Daryl being eighteen would not make any difference to the school board if they found out. Rick would be fired and he’d never be able to teach again.

Shane was still watching the news, the next weeks weather holding his attention.“Lori said that Blake was in a car accident and his passenger was killed.”  Rick told him without preamble.

“What?” Shane looked at Rick curiously.

“Coach Blake was in a car accident that killed his passenger,” Rick said as he flopped back down on the couch.

“He’s the one they were just talking about on the news? That’s awesome!” Shane said with a whoop.

Rick gave him a baleful glare, “Someone died, Shane. It is not awesome.”

Shane flipped his hand around dismissively, “Right, I know. But, what’s the chances he will be there for the game? His assistant coach will be running the show and we all know those kids aren’t going to listen to a thing he says and he sure as shit can’t run a game.”

“I know that Milton isn’t much of a leader, but he’s smart. And he’s been with Blake for a long time. I’m sure he could still pull out a win.”

“Maybe during regular season,” Shane agreed, “but not during the playoffs. And certainly not with Blake injured and in the hospital.”

“The board might postpone the game…” Rick mused.

Shane cut him off, “Not happening. Maybe during regular season, but not during playoffs. It would throw off the whole thing.”

Rick sighed, Shane had a point. It just galled Rick to think that they would win a game on the back of a tragedy. There would always be that kernel of doubt; did they win the game on their own merits, or did they benefit from the misfortune of others? Would there be an asterisk next to their W in the history books? Or would it be forgotten?

“Hey, man. Don’t let this throw ya. I know you don’t like the thought of winning because of an unfair advantage, but you didn’t cause this. It ain’t on you.” Shane said with a hand on Rick’s shoulder.

He was right, there wasn’t anything Rick could do about it anyway. 

Rick slept on the couch that night, still not having a bed yet. They would deal with that in the morning before he picked up Carl. The thought of sharing a room with Daryl still filled him with trepidation. Although he had come to terms with the relationship, the thought of Shane finding out still terrified him.

A quick peck on the lips roused him from his slumber, “Gotta go work. I’ll see you tonight,” Daryl whispered before quietly leaving.

Rick rubbed his hands over his face and slowly got up. Shane’s couch was comfortable to sit on, not so much to sleep on. 

By the time he’d showered and had a cup of coffee, Shane was up. “So, what do you want to do about a bed?”

“I guess I can just see if I can buy one. Unless your mom has another one I’m not aware of?” Rick teased.

“Nah. But hey, we could probably find ya’ll some bunkbeds,” Shane joked.

Shaking his head and grabbing his keys, Rick said, “Not a chance!”

As it turned out, one of the mattress stores was having a big sale and Rick was able to buy a full size mattress and box springs at a fair price, he decided to forgo the frame and headboard until he had his own place. It would probably still fill up the room he was to share with Daryl, but neither of them planned to be there much longer. Rick knew the two of them being there was cramping Shane’s style.

He had to pick up Carl and some of his things before taking the bed back to Shane’s, Lori’s face pinched as Rick shoved the car seat in the middle of the pick up’s seat. She had never liked Rick driving Carl around in it, even though Carl loved it. The stick shift fascinated him.

“Is this your truck?” she asked, shocked expression taking over her pinched look as Rick fumbled with the seatbelt. 

“Some of the boys on the team got together to fix it up for me,” Rick said, not wanting to reveal it was only one boy and who that boy was. 

“Well, wasn’t that nice of them,” she replied with mock sincerity. Rick ignored her and smiled happily at Carl. 

“Going to Uncle Shane’s for a bit. How does that sound?” 

“Yay! Unca Shane!” Carl said and clapped his hands.  

Rick settled Carl into his seat and buckled him, “Gonna help daddy drive?”

“Yeah!” Carl giggled.

“Rick, I don’t think…”

Sighing, Rick interrupted his estranged wife, “He’s just going to have his hand on the gear shift while I shift. He’s not going to accidently put the truck out of gear. He loves it.”

She crossed her arms and lifted her chin, “Fine. But it won’t be too long before he sneaks away and gets in this truck and messes with the  _ stick _ and it gets out of gear and rolls…”

Rick was in the truck now, foot on the clutch and key in the ignition, ready to go. “For christ’s sake Lori, he’s never out of eyesight of an adult and there is no way he could climb into this truck on his own, let alone get the door open.”  He put the truck in reverse and didn’t wait to see if she got out of the way before backing out onto the street. He and Carl made it back to Shane’s in record time. 

It only took a few minutes to get the bed unloaded, set up, and made (the sheets and pillow also purchased from the mattress store). Daryl didn’t really use the closet in the bedroom, so Rick put his things there. Carl ran around the condo the whole time, burning off excess energy from spending the morning in church.

“Can we go to the pool, daddy?” Carl asked when they were done.

Rick smiled, he’d brought Carl to swim in the pool before, so he remembered there was a pool in the middle of the complex. “Did you bring your swim trunks?”

Grabbing up his little backpack, Carl reached in and pulled out a pair of bright blue trunks, “Yup!” 

“Okay, just let me find mine and we’ll go.” Rick hadn’t planned on spending the afternoon at the pool, but it was fine with him. They could go out for ice cream later.

When Carl decided to lay on a lounge chair instead of jumping into his dad’s arms from the side of the pool, Rick knew his kid was done. They got back to the condo hot, tired, slightly sunburned, and hungry. Rick ran Carl and then himself through the shower, Carl getting himself dressed ( “I can do it myself, daddy!”) as Rick rushed through his. 

He had just whipped his towel from around his waist to dry his hair when he heard the bedroom door open, “Give daddy a minute!” he cried as he jerked the towel down to cover himself.

“Jesus, fuck. Please do  _ not _ call yourself ‘Daddy’.” Daryl said with a shudder as he shut the door.

Rick grinned sheepishly, “Thought you were Carl.”

Daryl smiled and reached under his bed to grab some clothes, “Hope you didn’t use all the hot water.”

“Nah, just was in there long enough to get the chlorine off of me, should be plenty of hot water,” Rick said as looked in the closet for a clean pair of jeans.

When he turned around, he realized he was standing between Daryl and the door. Naked. He bit his lip and let his eyes flick over Daryl’s body, selfishly wishing that they were alone in the condo.

“Man, I am covered in grease and stink to high heaven, you can’t be turned on by that,” Daryl said with a slow shake of his head.

Rick shrugged, he had notice the dark smudges all over Daryl, even his hair had a streak of grease in it, but it only made him look more masculine to Rick. It had never been Daryl’s youth that attracted Rick, it was his maturity and strength of character. Although, the mole and scraggly beard didn’t hurt.

“Dirty fucker,” Daryl scoffed playfully. He closed the gap between them and brushed his lips across Rick’s. 

Wanting more, Rick leaned into the kiss, opening his mouth and running his tongue across Daryl’s lips.

They were interrupted by a loud bang on the door and Carl’s plaintiff, “C’mon daddy! Shane ordered pizza!”

Pulling away, Daryl said, “Good thing I thought to lock the door.”

Rick chuckled, “Yeah, good thing.”

“Daddy!”

“Let me get my pants on!” Rick hollered back.

Daryl stepped out of Rick’s personal space and waited for Rick to move with a quirked eyebrow. Rick reluctantly moved, grabbing Daryl’s ass possessively as he did. 

“Pervert,” Daryl threw over his shoulder as he opened the door.

Rick hurriedly pulled on his jeans, not bothering with underwear or a shirt. He was hungry and Carl would probably start to have a meltdown if he didn’t eat soon. He wasn’t planning on going out again tonight anyway.

Two large pizza boxes were opened on the kitchen table and Shane was getting plates out of the cupboard when Rick made it into the kitchen. Carl was sitting at the table, his hair sticking up in random places from his shower. Rick took a moment to try and straighten it, making Carl giggle and push at Rick’s hands.

“Daddy! Stop!” he said, laughing.

Rick tried a few more times, but gave up after Carl slid down in his seat, “Your mom would have a cow if she saw you!”

“She ain’t here,” Shane said as he put a plate down in front of Rick.

“Hey, thanks for getting dinner, I’ll get it next time,” Rick said as he grabbed a couple of slices for Carl.

“Don’t worry about it, it was buy one get one free night,” Shane said as he piled on his own plate. 

“Yeah!” Carl piped up, still in a good mood, “Don’t worry about it!”

“Fine! I won’t worry about it!” Rick said in defeat, throwing his hands up comically for Carl’s benefit.

Rick had eaten two plates full of pizza and was wiping Carl’s face when Daryl finally came out of the bathroom, his hair wet and curling around his ears. Rick had to take a deep breath, Daryl being wet was starting to be quite a turn on for him.

“Hi!” Carl greeted him.

“Hi,” Daryl replied as he took the empty seat next to Rick and started filling his plate. 

Carl stuck out his hand to Daryl, “I’m Carl.”

With a quick glance to Rick, Daryl captured Carl’s little hand in his own and gave it a manly shake, “Nice to meet ya. Your dad talks about ya a lot.”

“He does?” Carl asked with a frown.

“Yup.”

Carl turned to Rick and grinned broadly before turning back to Daryl. His face turned serious as he asked, “Are you going to be sleeping with Daddy now?”

Daryl and Rick both choked. 

Shane darted a surprised look between the two of them, before asking, “What is he talking about?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh oh! lol


	28. Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rick talks to Carl and other things happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, you all slay me with your comments! I love 'em!
> 
> Thank you so much to my dear friends and betas, 1Lostone and TWDObsessive. They are the bomb. I added quite a bit after they looked at this chapter, so any mistakes are mine. And hey, just be sly when you point them out to me. ;)
> 
> This is a gift for my friend TWDObsessive who managed to bang ( _bang _haha) out a fic based on the Leedus shoot that dropped today. She's amazing.__
> 
> __Thank you to KatytheInspiredWorkaholic for looking over a bit of dialogue for me tonight on the fly. She's pretty awesome._ _

Rick’s throat closed up and he ducked his head, hoping Shane wouldn’t see the guilt on his face. A flicker of an eye would be all that Shane needed to read Rick like a book and come to the devastating true conclusion.

But before Rick could full-on panic, Daryl scoffed and said, “We ain’t sleeping in the same bed, Carl. We’re sleeping in the same  _ room _ . Not the same thing.”

“Oh! I thought everyone that had ta share a room had to share a bed,” Carl said.

“No bud, Daryl and I don’t share a bed. His bed is on one side of the room and mine is on the other. We do have to share a closet though.” Rick told his son.

“Not that Daryl puts anything in it,” Shane said as he dug into his pizza.

Daryl caught Rick’s eye and they both relaxed. Shane would probably overlook more hints of Rick and Daryl’s relationship now, not wanting to seem to make assumptions like Carl had. But he would eventually find out, or Rick would just tell him. There was no way they could keep it a secret from Shane forever. 

After dinner, Rick grabbed his mitt and a baseball and Carl’s mitt that Lori had brought over with the rest of Rick’s stuff. No matter how many times Rick had told her it belonged to Carl, she still put it with Rick’s baseball equipment out in the garage. 

“Hey buddy, wanna go toss the ball outside?”

“Yes! Coach Abe says tha’ I prolaby switch to baseball when I get bigger and I need ta learn how to throw a ball instead ‘a just kicking it.” Carl explained as they went out the door of the condo.  

As Rick shut the door, he looked back. Shane gave him a significant look, he knew what Rick was going to have to tell Carl. However the conversation went, Shane would be waiting in case Rick needed to talk about it when he got back.

Carl held Rick’s hand as they walked across the parking lot to a bit of grass that was flat and long enough for them to toss a ball, they only needed about ten feet. Hopefully, Rick wouldn’t be chasing too many balls.  

After making sure Carl was wearing the glove right, Rick had him practice holding the ball. Carl seemed to remember just fine from the last time they played catch. After a few good tosses from arm’s length away, Rick stepped back a few feet and was not disappointed.  Carl’s toss was straight and landed right in Rick’s glove.

“Awesome buddy! Coach Abe is right, you might be playing baseball here soon.  Little guys like you start out with T-ball though, but you will love it.”

Carl nodded his head, “Mommy says that since you ain’t stayin’ at home anymore you’re gonna make sure I go ta baseball whether she likes it or not.”

Rick pinched the top of his nose as he willed himself to calm down. Once he felt like he’d be able to answer Carl in a level voice, he asked, “What exactly did your mommy tell you?”

Looking up as though looking for the answer, Carl answered, “She said you was gonna stay with Unca Shane for a while and she didn’t know when you was comin’ home and that it wasn’t my fault and she wasn’t allowed to say anymore ‘cause you’d get mad.”

Pulling his arm back, Rick threw the ball as hard as he could into the woods, not even caring if he hit anyone.  He stood, hands on his hips, breathing in slow measured breaths as he tried to relax.  

“Daddy?”

“Sorry buddy. I’m not mad at you,” he held out his arm to Carl, “I am going to be staying with Shane for a while. Don’t know how long.” He sat down and pulled Carl with him, holding his son in his lap. “Mommy and Daddy decided that maybe we should live at different places for a while. It doesn’t mean we don’t love you or that we won’t see you anymore.”

“Are you gettin’ a de...divrouse?”

“What?”

Carl tilted his head to the side as he thought, “Patrick’s uncle and aunt got a divrouse and they aren’t husband and life any more.”

Rick couldn’t help but chuckle, “It’s a divorce and yes, it means they aren’t husband and wife anymore. I’m not sure if your mommy and me will do that, but it looks like we might.”

“Awesome!”

“ _ What? _ ”

“Patrick says you get two birfdays and two Chrismases when your mommy and daddy are divorused. And he said that his daddy gets him stuff his mommy won’t,” Carl explained.

Rick nodded his head, “I guess Patrick is right. So, are you okay with mommy and daddy not being married anymore?”

“Yeah, you don’t even like each other.”

Rick didn’t have anything to say about that. 

The rest of the evening was unremarkable. Daryl and Carl played a video game while Rick and Shane straightened up the kitchen and talked strategy for the next game. Everything was fine.

***

Lori was on the front porch waiting for Carl the next morning when Rick pulled into the driveway of the home he’d shared with her for five years. She was perfectly made up and was wearing her favorite jeans that made her ass look perfect and a flowing sheer white blouse. Rick grimaced at the pang of nostalgia, but there was no longer any desire.

She motioned for Rick as she waited for Carl to clamor up the steps. After a tight hug and a light swat on his bottom, Lori sent Carl inside and hesitantly walked over to where Rick waited in his truck.

She ran a hand along the top of the bed, “It looks the same.”

“Yeah, they did a good job.” Rick ignored her veiled barb. Hell, he didn’t even have to worry about getting a new truck now. He wasn’t going to let her get to him about it.

“Was he any trouble?” she asked, dropping her hand away from the truck.

Rick shook his head, “Nah. he thinks Daryl and I ought to be sleeping in the same bed just ‘cause we gotta share a room, but Daryl set him straight.”

“Poor Daryl must have been so embarrassed!” she laughed.

Shrugging his shoulder, Rick said, “He was alright. Not much ruffles his feathers any more.”

“I guess not,” Lori agreed. She turned her head and looked toward the house. No doubt trying to visualize what Carl was doing. 

After a moment of waiting for her to tell him what she wanted, Rick prompted her, “Lori?”

Turning back, she asked, “Did you tell him?” 

“Yeah, he was excited to double up on birthdays and Christmases.”

Lori snorted, “He would.”

Still, she stood at his door, her eyes drifting back to the house.

“Listen, I have to go, so if there’s something else on your mind…”

She turned back to look at him, her hands fidgeting around the waist of her jeans. “I, uh, I need to go to the grocery store.”

“Do you need me to watch Carl or something?” Rick asked, confused.

“No. I need,” she paused and took a breath, “I need money.”

“Lori, you got the checkbook and the credit card, you don’t need my permission.”

She nodded her head, “Thanks. It’s just that, you’re not living here and I don’t know how much you need for Shane and I know you’re still paying all the other bills.”

“Hey,” Rick bent his head to catch her eye, “I may be living with Shane, but you are still my wife and Carl is still my son. And even if we don’t ever get back to where we were, I’ll always take care of ya’ll. You know that. ‘Sides, Shane hasn’t asked me for a dime. Not yet anyway.”

“You don’t mind?”

“No, at least not right now. If things keep on the way they’re goin’...well, we won’t be married anymore. And I think it would be fair for you to take on some of the financial responsibility of the house and Carl. You know what I mean?” Rick didn’t want to say the word divorce, but he knew that was where they were headed.

“Rick, I need to be home for Carl. You know that. We agreed when we got married that I would stay home with him,” she said, a slight edge to her voice.

“Well, Carl’s going to be starting school in the fall. He’ll be gone five hours a day, I’m sure you can get something part time. And, what we agreed to when we got married won’t matter anymore after…” he still couldn’t say it.

“What if he gets sick? What about when he’s not in school? Who is going to be with him then?”

Rick started the truck and put it in reverse before answering, “You’re not doing this alone, Lori. There’s me and your parents to help. And lots of people work and have kids. We’ll figure it out.”

He didn’t wait for her to answer, putting his foot on the gas and looking over his shoulder so he didn’t have to look at her. She was right, he had been more than happy to agree to her staying home to take care of Carl and the house while he worked. But if they weren’t going to be married any longer, then she wasn’t his responsibility. Carl? Yes. But not her. 

It took all his self control not to spin the tires as he drove away. He turned on the radio and rolled down his window, letting the music work on his bad mood. It didn’t need to carry it over to baseball practice today.

The song he was listening to ended and a commercial for the local news came on,  _ “An accident involving a local teacher uncovers misconduct. Will the Braves be able to make a bid for the pennant this year? Tune in tonight at 11..” _

Rick turned off the radio and just drove on auto pilot to the school, a million thoughts running through his head. Lori, Carl, Daryl, Shane, the team, and the tournament all crowded for attention. But the teaser for the news had new worries swimming around. 

Teacher misconduct was something that weighed heavy on his mind, especially now. What had Philip been up to to be called out for misconduct? There was no doubt that he was the one the newscaster had been talking about. Rick hadn’t heard anything more about the accident, but it had only been a few days. As far as he knew the asshat was still in the hospital.

Shaking himself out of his wildly spinning thoughts, Rick parked his truck and took a deep breath to center himself. He needed to focus on practice. They played Woodbury in a few days, even if the coach was in the hospital. Milton was a good assistant coach, even if he was more of a stats guy than a fundamentals guy. King High could still lose, so Rick had to get them ready. This was not the time to focus on things he had no control over.

***

Practice was over before Rick would have liked, but it had gotten too damn hot and sticky. The last thing he needed was one of the kids passing out from the heat. They called practice at noon. 

Shane and Daryl got home before Rick and were both in the shower. Rick sighed and got a beer out of the fridge while he waited for one to open up. He stank and where the sweat wasn’t dripping off of him it was making his clothes sticky. 

Rick drained the beer and tossed the empty in the trash before peeling his shirt off. He tried mopping up some of the sweat with the shirt, but it just smeared the ick around. Going down the hall to the room he shared with Daryl, he heard the shower turn off. That meant he could be showering in just a few minutes. 

He gathered up a towel and a change of clothes and threw them on the bed. Daryl walked in, towel slung low across his hips and water dripping from his hair. Rick swallowed and grabbed up his things. Shane was home and he didn’t want to chance it.

Daryl had other ideas. He shut the door and crowded into Rick’s space before grimacing and taking a step back, “You stink man.”

Rick snorted, “That happens when you’re out in the Georgia heat for four hours.”

“Wasn’t that bad.” Daryl said from his side of the room. Rick couldn’t tear his eyes away as Daryl knelt down and pulled a clean set of clothes out from under the bed.

“You know, you could use the dresser or the closet,” Rick reminded him.

Daryl shrugged and pulled the towel from his waist, his comfort at doing that simple act in front of someone telling of his feelings for Rick. “Gonna be out of here soon.”

That made Rick stop his leering, “What?”

“Look, you and Shane have done too much. I got a job and they are being cool about letting me finish up with the baseball, but man, I gotta be out on my own. Not used to this shit and I’m sure I’m cramping Shane’s style.”

“I don’t think Shane feels that way.”

“Maybe not,” Daryl said as he pulled on a pair of jeans, “but he will soon enough. “Sides, this place is too high class for me. There ain’t even anywhere I can clean any game.”

“Clean game?” Rick echoed.

“Yeah, as in hunt.” Daryl had his shirt on now and was sitting on his bed pulling on a pair of socks.

“I’m sure if you want to hunt, we can figure out where you can clean your kills, but I don’t know why you’d even need to hunt.”

Daryl paused in putting on his boots, “I can take care of myself Rick. I have since I was a kid. And part of that is huntin’ for my own food. I’m not a charity case.”

Rick knelt down in front of Daryl, “I don’t think you’re a charity case.”

“It doesn’t matter. I’ll be out of here in a few weeks. And then we won’t have to sneak around so much and worry about Shane catching us.” His face softened and he put a hand on Rick’s chest. “I’m not saying we’ll be at the head of the gay pride parade or anything like that. But if I had my own place we wouldn’t have to sneak around.”

“Daryl,” he starts, but stops, not knowing what to say. 

“Look, I get it. You’re a teacher, you can’t be seen with a student.” Daryl’s hand skims up Rick’s chest and slides around his neck. “But, that doesn’t mean we can’t be together. We can figure this out.”

The kiss was gentle, just a touch of lips before Daryl was pulling away. It was a good thing too, Rick could hear Shane coming out of his room. “I gotta shower. I feel like I’ve sweated enough for three people.”

“You smell like it too,” Daryl said with a smirk.

Rick playfully hit Daryl’s knee, but got up and headed for the door.

Daryl followed him, “I’ll be gone when you get out. I’ve got work.”

“But I had practice scheduled until four, how could you have work now?” Rick asked as they stepped out into the hall.

“Got an open invitation to work when I can. And right now, I can. So I’m going in. I need the money if I’m going to get out of here.”

“Just don’t fuck up that arm!” Shane cried from the living room.

Daryl barked out a short laugh and turned to Rick, a smile so wide on his face that Rick could actually see all of his perfect teeth. Overwhelmed with giddiness or some other reckless emotion, Rick pulled Daryl to him and kissed quick and dirty, not even thinking about Shane who was just down the hall and could see them if he decided to look around the corner.

They lingered in the hall looking into each other’s eyes until the sound of Shane getting into the refrigerator broke the spell.  

“See you tonight,” Daryl mouthed, obviously meaning more than just what the words implied, before turning and walking down the hall to leave.

Rick’s heart clenched and his dick twitched at the thought. They’d have to be quiet, but he found himself strangely unconcerned at the prospect of Shane finding out. 

He showered and washed quickly, but he couldn’t wash the smile off his face. After the bullshit with Lori today and his easy banter with Daryl just now, his whole thought process was changing. Yes, he and Daryl would have to be circumspect for a while, probably longer than either would like, but maybe after a year or two they wouldn’t have to hide what they had. And knowing that there might actually be a future for the two of them made him realize that it wasn’t just lust he felt for Daryl, it might actually be him losing his heart to Daryl as well. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah Rick. He's finally coming around to Daryl's point of view!
> 
> Also, hopefully, Carl's dialogue wasn't too hard to read, four year olds don't quite have a full and well developed vocabulary.


	29. Chapter 29

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stuff! and Thangs! 
> 
> (sorry, I just couldn't help myself)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, I'm posting a bit early because my internet is supposed to be down for maintenance tonight. 
> 
> Thank you for all your awesome comments! I love reading them! I make 1lostone and TWDObsessive read them too. ;)
> 
> And Thanks to those lovely gals for betaing from me, they are awesome. As usual, I made changes and additions after they looked at it, so any mistakes are mine.

Rick didn’t get to watch the news like he’d intended. He and Shane worked on the lineup for the game with Woodbury, trying to figure out who had the best chance of getting a hit off of their star pitcher. Even though their coach was out, that didn’t mean the team wasn’t still a threat. They still had a helluva pitcher and good hitters.

“Martinez is a helluva pitcher, he doesn’t need his coach there to strike the boys out. And I would almost lay money on it that he’d try intentionally hit Daryl and put him out of the game,” Shane said. 

Rick shook his head, “Martinez is a good kid, can’t see him doing that. He’s a good leader for the team.”

“Yeah, but his coach is an underhanded douche bag who wouldn’t think twice about telling his pitcher to bean a kid.”

“Good thing the douche bag is in the hospital then.”

Shane was still concerned about Daryl’s hitting. And it was true, Daryl didn’t hit well, but that really wasn’t unusual for a pitcher. They’d just put him at the end of the rotation where an out wouldn’t hurt them- chances are, they could still win the inning.. But it was probably going to be a close game, and every hit would matter. Rick decided it would be best to have Daryl work on his hitting next practice. 

It was nearly ten thirty by the time that Daryl did make it home, covered in grease and looking bone tired. Rick pushed him straight to the shower and refused to even let Daryl kiss him once they were in their room.

“You’re dead on your feet. And we have a long practice tomorrow. Go to bed,” he’d told Daryl, even though the sight of Daryl wet and in a towel now caused a Pavlovian response in Rick’s pants. He’d rolled himself up in his blanket and thought hard about pitching stats for a good hour before he fell asleep.

***

He was dreaming. 

The sun was so bright that he had to shield his face with his hand, but yet he felt like he was sitting in a warm tub. He tried to look around in his dream, but all he could see was shorn grass. Neat rows of mowed lawn that looked like an outfield. 

Rick put his hand out to try and find out why he felt like he was in a bath, but his hand touched a warm ball of fur. He still couldn’t figure out the warm bath part, but his senses were being overloaded with electricity. Jolts that ran through his whole body. 

As the area around him got brighter, all the sensations started to coalesce around his dick. His leg twitched, but something held it still. Rick knew he should probably worry about that, but he couldn’t seem to focus because all he could feel was warmth and pleasure and  _ suction _ .

Rick’s eyes flew open and his hand spasmed around a handful of hair. Which soon turned out to be attached to Daryl. Who was nestled between Rick’s legs and giving him a hell of a morning blow job.

“Daryl,” he moaned.

Pulling off with obscenely loud pop, Daryl said, “Thought you’d never wake up. But then again, it woulda been kinda hot to make you come in your sleep.”

Later Rick would admit to himself that this was the exact moment he knew he was lost. The mischievous look, with bright eyes and a smile, all the while nuzzling Rick’s hard and shiny cock, was such a beautiful and pure thing that Rick’s heart stuttered in his chest. 

He was in love with Daryl. Truly. And it wasn’t because of the blow job, it was that Rick was probably the only one that Daryl had ever looked at like that. No one else had ever seen a look of pure love and adulation from him. No one but Rick. 

“Com’ere,” Rick said as he pulled gently at Daryl.

Complying, Daryl slid up Rick’s body. They kissed, long and slow. Putting their whole bodies into it - hands exploring, legs restlessly rubbing, and hips undulating. It was pure and organic. Perfect.

Daryl pulled away, “Wanna suck your dick.”

Rick couldn’t hold back his hearty chuckle, “Maybe I wanna suck yours?”

The flush that crept down Daryl’s chest was beautiful, “Sixty-nine?” he asked.

Nodding, Rick shifted closer to the edge of the bed and turned on his side. Daryl slid around and got in position. There was a bit more shuffling to make sure they could both fit on the bed, but then Daryl finally put his mouth back on Rick. He sucked in a staccato breath, before seeking out his own prize. 

Soon the only sounds were soft moans and occasional wet sounds. They were both moving slow, wanting to draw out the moment, but sensations of giving and receiving were too much and first Daryl, and then Rick, tipped over the edge. Maybe being mindful of Shane and his impeccable nose, they both swallowed what the other offered, leaving not even a drop to dribble on a chin. 

There wasn’t time to cuddle though, as the man with the incredible sniffer came barreling down the hall, not even stopping as he banged on the door and yelled, “Get your asses up! Got shit to do today!”

After Rick’s heart stopped acting like it was going to carve its way out of his chest from fright, he gently pushed at Daryl’s hip to get him to move off the bed. “I’ll shower first.”

Practice was long and miserably hot. The team moms were hard pressed to keep everyone hydrated and Rick kept a close eye on the heat index the whole day, they did not need to have a kid collapse because of heat stroke. At one point, Shane even pulled Rick into the dugout and stood over him, making him drink a water  _ and _ a sports drink, before shoving an orange in his hand. Rick was lucky to have a friend like Shane - a guy who always had his back.  

Daryl was not going to get substantially better at hitting in one day, but he did get to where he could consistently hit an easy ball. Getting the muscle memory in place was a good first step, they could work on getting him to be able to read a pitch from the other side at the next practice. Rick had also thrown some curveballs at his better hitters, there was no way that the Martinez kid wouldn’t bring that out during a playoff game. 

The pizza joint they went to after practice gave everyone on the team an extra twenty percent off as a reward for having a winning season. Daryl looked like he was gonna huff about it, but Shane just gave him a look and that stopped that rant. There was no shame in taking a freely offered gift.

“Woodbury tomorrow,” Shane said without preamble as they sat down to wait for their pizza. They were both drinking sweet tea, they were technically working, so no beer with their pizza tonight. And hopefully no more embarrassing college days revelations. 

Rick scanned his eyes around the room to make sure the boys were all behaving before answering, “I would’ve thought we wouldn’t have a chance. But since Blake went and got himself in an accident and put himself in the hospital, I think we have a good chance of not getting our ass handed to us.”

Shane shook his head, “Man we got a good team this year. And that arm of Daryl’s will make sure we don’t get skunked no matter who we’re playing against.” He smiled his hundred watt smile, “You gotta have faith, brother!”

Rick snorted in his tea.

Sitting back dramatically, arms in the air, Shane said, “Man, they got that milkweed Milton playing coach. He can’t coach from his gut. Just has his clipboard with all his stats. That’s not a bad strategy, but he hasn’t got enough numbers on Daryl to know how good the kid is. We’re gonna win, and it will be big. Mark my words.”

“We’ve got a good chance.” Rick didn’t want to jinx the team. And he was never one to count his chickens before they were hatched. 

Shane had a reply on his lips, but the pizza arrived just then and the point was lost as they devoured the extra cheesy pie.

A little later the boys came over in ones and twos to tell the coaches goodnight, either a parent showing up to take them home, or driving themselves. Rick had a positive word for each of them and Shane reminded everyone of what they needed to focus on for the game tomorrow. Each boy left with a tired smile, the long day and the importance of the next one catching up to them.

When it was Glenn’s turn to say goodnight, Rick used his best ‘serious coach’ voice and said, “You help keep the team’s spirit up, I’m glad you’re here.” And Shane told him, “Stop running your jaw while you’re on the field. You need to keep your eye on the ball and be ready.”

Glenn just shook his head at the conflicting advice. Rick turned to give Shane a stink eye, but Shane already had one for Rick. They both burst into laughter. 

Rick looked around for Daryl, expecting him to be last anyway, and was dismayed to see him in a dark corner with Spencer. His hand reflexively squeezed into a fist- the napkin he was holding twisting into a tight ball. Shane eyed Rick’s tight fist and then darted his eyes around the room until he found what Rick was looking at so menacingly.  

“Hey, that fucktard gets on my nerves too, but he ain’t doing anything. Hell, he might be good for Daryl.”

“He’s not good for Daryl,” Rick said in a low voice.

“Why not? The kid keeps his nose clean and he’s in college. He knows baseball - hell he was a great hitter. Maybe he can give Daryl some pointers.” 

Rick didn’t answer, just worried his bottom lip as he tried to calm himself. 

Shane tapped on the table to get Rick’s attention, “Look, the kid has a chip on his shoulder, we both know that. But he’s basically a good kid. And to be honest,” Shane paused and looked around the room before leaning in to speak conspiratorially to Rick, “I think they’re both…” he trailed off and raised his eyebrow meaningfully while he let his wrist drop and his hand waver.

“Shane,” Rick said, warning clear in his tone.

“What? You know I’m okay with it! I never gave you shit about it during coll…”

“ _ Shane! _ ”

“Fine. But you can’t be all pissy about the two of them hanging out.”

Rick pursed his lips and let out a slow breath, “You’re right. Daryl’s his own man. He’s smart enough to figure out that Spencer’s a shit all on his own.” He loosened the death grip he had on his napkin, “ ‘Sides, he’ll leave as soon as we loose or as soon as he figures out Daryl isn’t going to play ball after this.”

Shane paid their bill as Rick worked on calming himself down. It didn’t look like Spencer and Daryl were planning on leaving anytime soon, so Rick went over to their table. 

“Coach Walsh and I are going home,” he said without preamble.

“Alright,” Daryl replied, his face showing his confusion.

“Don’t worry coach,” Spencer said with a smirk for Rick, “I won’t keep him out late.”

Shane seemed to materialize out of thin air and had a hand on Rick’s arm and answered before Rick could, “Make sure he’s home in a couple of hours, we’ve got Woodbury tomorrow and he needs to be rested up for it.”

Spencer shook his head, “Ya’ll are gonna win. Their coach is in the hospital and the team doesn’t respect the assistant coach. I bet you could win even if Noah was pitchin’.”

That was doubtful as Noah was still working on throwing the ball well enough that Aaron could actually catch it without running after it. 

“Be that as it may, Daryl still needs to have his butt on the bench tomorrow same as the rest of the team,” Shane said.

With a sharp glance at Spencer, Daryl answered, “I’ll be home in an hour coach. Don’t hafta worry about me.”

“Good,” Shane and Rick said in unison. 

Daryl tilted his head and lifted his eyebrow in question to Rick, but Rick ignored it. Shane and Spencer were locked in their own eyebrow conversation, so they didn’t notice. 

Rick turned and left without another word or waiting to see how the battle of the eyebrows shook out. He needed a shower and a beer. Or two. 

He wasn’t sure why he was so damn jealous of Spencer. Daryl had made it clear that he wasn’t interested in Spencer at all. But seeing them together, and Shane making assumptions, it was too much.

His hair was still damp around the edges and he was on his second beer when Daryl got home. Rick bit his lip, but kept his eyes on the tv. He wasn’t even sure what was on, but he couldn’t trust himself to look at Daryl.

Daryl huffed and kept on going. The door to their bedroom banged open and then closed. Shane was already in his room in his own shower so he didn’t see Rick crush the beer can in his hand or see the way Rick’s eyes squinted in anger.

The bedroom door banged open again and then the bathroom door got the same treatment. As soon as Rick heard the shower going, he turned the tv and the light off and ditched his abused can before going to his bedroom. 

Rick could faintly smell Daryl’s sweaty practice clothes in the laundry basket at the foot of his bed. He inhaled the scent sharply and winced at the sudden rush of arousal. Tamping it down, he got into his bed and rolled over with his back to the room.

He wasn’t asleep when Daryl came back a few minutes later, and Daryl knew it.

“What’s your problem?” Daryl asked, a gruff edge to his voice

Rick didn’t answer.

“He came and sat with me. What was I supposed to do? Just get up and make a scene?”

Rick still didn’t answer, afraid of what he would say.

“Damn it,” Daryl said from between clenched teeth, “I fucking told you. There ain’t nobody else for me. You’re it. You don’t have to act like a jealous bitch just because somebody wants to sit next to me.”

Rick stayed quiet. If he answered it would get loud. And all they needed was for Shane to overhear a lover’s quarrel. 

“Fine, don’t talk to me. But you best be over this before tomorrow. I can’t pitch with you glaring at me.”

Ignoring the mutterings and huffs from the other bed, Rick pulled his sheet closer around his body. He’d never been this jealous over Lori before. Not once. And it frightened him more than he cared to admit that he was ready to beat Spencer’s ass just for breathing the same air as Daryl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think of jealous Rick?
> 
> Also, 9000 HITS!!! Woot woot! Thanks ya'll! It's like I'm writing a HP (a rare pair, but still)!


	30. Chapter 30

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Woodbury game and Rick makes amends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for your comments! You are the best! _smooches!_
> 
> Thank you to my wonderful betas, 1Lostone and TWDObsessive. And as you know, I messed with it after they looked at it, so any mistakes are mine.
> 
> Thank you to KatyTheInspiredWorkaholic for looking over bits and pieces for me tonight. She's pretty awesome.
> 
> I shouldn't fail to mention the Justley listens to me whine every other night or so and makes me giggle with all her funny stories about things she watches on British television (we Americans are missing out!)
> 
> This is a gift for my awesome buddy, TWDObsessive. I'm glad she's my friend.

They won. 

It was a rout. The Woodbury kids clearly didn’t trust Mamet to coach them to a win. The pitcher and the catcher ignored him completely. Which is why Martinez broke his arm in the third inning pitching an ill-advised curveball. The outfielders all had their fucking phones and tried to sneak peeks of their phones between hitters. Rick would have hauled a player off the field and stuck him in the dugout for the rest of the season for that shit.

Rick was pretty sure the other kids had half-assed their warm up too, which would explain the broken arm. And they had seemed to have forgotten what a good pitcher Daryl really was. Or maybe Daryl had just gotten better over the season. 

_ Daryl. _

There had been no call for Rick to act the way he had last night. Daryl had proven over and over that he only had eyes for Rick. Frankly, it was embarrassing. But Rick hadn’t had time to talk to Daryl and apologize. Truth be told, it wouldn’t hurt for everyone to think Daryl was hanging out with Spencer.

After the game a lot of angry Woodbury parents circled Coach Mamet, yelling and cursing and pointing fingers. The man was inept, but it wasn’t his fault the team had lost. Rick and Shane tried to step in to save him, but the police showed up and that was the end of that. No one got arrested as far as Rick could tell. It would be all over the news tomorrow, there was a guy from the paper there and at least two local news cameras. 

Rick waited around to see if Andrea would show up. He missed seeing the bright girl in his classes and at King High games. She had never missed a game until she’d transferred last year. He had been looking forward to seeing her, but she never showed. Several of the team looked around for her too, she’d been popular before she’d transferred. It was a bad business when she had to leave, but none of the students knew about that. 

Aaron supplied the answer while Rick was doing a last sweep of the dugout, checking for anything that might have been left behind. “She was the person that was in the car with Coach Blake.”

“What?” Rick asked, dumbfounded.

Shaking his head and with tears in his eyes, Aaron repeated himself, “The young woman in the car with Coach Blake when he crashed - the one that died? It was Andrea.”

Rick slumped down on the bench and dropped the gym bag he’d been holding. “How...how do you know?”

“Glenn asked one of the team moms.”

“What happened?” Rick whispered, all joy from winning gone like a puff of smoke. 

“It was bad. She was alive when they were found. And she would have lived if they’d found them sooner. Said she bled out and…” Aaron didn’t finish. Rick was glad. He wasn’t sure he could listen to much more. 

“What about a funeral?” Rick asked.

“The family didn’t want a fuss. Especially since there were questions about why she was even in Coach Blake’s car. They had a private service as soon as the coroner released the body.”

His heart squeezed uncomfortably in his chest. He’d never experienced losing a student before. It was an unfortunate reality though. If you were a teacher long enough you were bound to, either by the student’s own stupidity, or an illness or something tragic and unexpected. It...hurt. Much more than he anticipated. 

“Coach?” 

It was Daryl, a concerned look marring his face. Rick was afraid to speak, afraid to look at Daryl, certain that if he did he would lose his shit.

“ _ Rick _ ?”

Of it’s own accord, his head shot up, eyes darting to Daryl and then to Aaron. Daryl crouched down in front of Rick, arms outstretched as if to capture Rick’s hands. Aaron was staring at Daryl, a speculative look on his face. 

Rick shot up and walked to the other side of the dugout. “Let’s make sure nothing is left. We can’t afford to forget any equipment,” he said in a rough voice. 

“I”ll go check the locker room,” Aaron said and then left Rick and Daryl alone. 

“Hey,” Daryl was right behind him now, Rick could almost feel Daryl’s hand that wavered between them. 

“Andrea…” Rick couldn’t seem to finish the sentence. He stood with his head bowed, hands on his hips.

Daryl huffed out a breath and scuffed his toe in the dirt of the dugout, “I know.” 

Rick nodded his head. “Let’s get out of here. I’m sure everyone is already waiting for us at the Dairy Queen.”

The parking lot was full when they arrived, the bus had to park on the side of the road. No one seemed to mind. There was a deafening cheer when Daryl got off the bus. Shane had to grab his arm to keep him from darting off. 

They didn’t even have a chance to make it to the window to place an order, they were shuffled to a table that was already full of their usual order, three or four times over. Some had melted a bit in the summer heat, but Rick didn’t mind. Daryl was smiling that shy smile of his and actually eating one of the free cones. The evening sun was slanted just so and it lit up Daryl’s face and hair, making Rick’s breath catch. 

Rick had never met Daryl’s parents, but surely one of them must have been a looker. How else would Daryl look so much like an angel just sitting there eating an ice cream? 

Pulling his eyes away, Rick looked around to make sure no one had seen him staring. He’d made sure that Aaron was sitting behind him when he took his seat. That kid was too smart. Aaron already thought Daryl had a crush on Rick, he didn’t need to suss out that there was more than that going on. Not yet at least. 

A hand clapped him on the shoulder, making Rick jump. “Doing a great job, Coach. I just know you’re gonna take our boys all the way to state.” It was Pete, Jessie the team mom’s husband. Rick disliked the guy immensely. He was a bully that liked to shove the fact that he was a doctor in everyone’s face and he liked to start pissing matches with people just because he could.

Rick turned in his seat to look at the taller man, “It ain’t me. These boys have really pulled together this year and have buckled down and worked together to get here.”

Pete squeezed Rick’s shoulder, “I’m sure that by the time Ron is a senior, and Sam gets on the team, you’ll have it figured out.”

The dick was gone by the time Rick could think of an answer, it didn’t matter. Pete only showed up for big games. Rick might have to put up with him for the next few, but unless they went to the playoffs every year, he wouldn’t have to see him much, even if his boys of his were on the team. 

When he looked around, Aaron wasn’t in the seat behind Rick any longer, he was at the edge of the seating area talking to Spencer. Rick really wanted to know what they were discussing, but it was more than likely they were only talking about the game, or next week’s game, and not about Rick and Daryl. There was no reason for them to be talking about anything other than the game, Rick was just being paranoid. 

Shane broke through Rick’s ruminations. “Hey man, I think it’s about time to pack up. I’m whooped and I got a date tonight.”

Rick smirked and shook his head, “Anyone I know?”

Smiling, Shane darted his eyes to the side, “It’s a small town, I’m sure you do.”

“Yeah, okay. But I got Carl coming over in the morning, don’t wanna hear you bitching about a hangover when he get’s there.”

“Nah man, I love the little man. I might even stay over at her place tonight. She just wants to watch a movie and stay in,” Shane explained.

“Not your usual kind of date,” Rick was surprised. 

“She’s not my usual kinda date,” Shane said with more feeling than Rick would have expected.

Rick cocked his head to the side, “You gonna tell me who she is?”

Shane looked over to where some of the boys were congregating around Spencer and Aaron, the two were laughing and making funny faces.  Maybe Rick didn’t have anything to worry about there after all. He was startled when Shane finally answered, “It’s new and different. I promise I’ll tell you if we get more serious. Deal?”

“Deal,” Rick agreed. “Let’s get out of here. I need a shower something awful!”

Daryl had gotten up while the two men had talked and Rick could see him over with Glenn. Rick very much so wanted to go over to them, but decided that he should just start rounding up the boys that would be riding back on the bus. A lot of the parents had shown up at the restaurant, and it was a good bet they would take their kids with them instead of following the bus back to the school to pick them up. 

Rick sighed and got his clipboard with all the kids names and started working his way around to see who was leaving and who would be on the bus. He wasn’t surprised to find that almost all of the kids would leave with their parents. He  _ was  _ surprised that Daryl would be leaving with Glenn and his family.

“Was hoping it would be okay if I had Glenn drop me off at home and I could borrow your truck. Got an errand I need to run and you’ll probably be another hour or so back at the school after we leave here,” Daryl said by way of explanation.

“Yeah, sure man.” Rick was a bit shocked, but he was sure Daryl would have a good reason. “You fixed it up, I’m sure you won’t bang it up again after all the work you put into it.” 

“Thanks, Coach.” Daryl said and was gone with Glenn before Rick could even mark next to his name that he’d left with a parent. Not that he had, but it wasn’t like Daryl was gonna wait around for dear old dad and Rick and Shane were more his family now anyway.

Daryl was right and it ended up taking over an hour to get the bus all unloaded and the equipment put away. Since most of the boys had already left, it meant that Rick and Shane had to do all the work. Not to mention all the personal stuff the boys had left on the bus. Backpacks, gloves, shoes, and other random things. Since the field house still wasn’t finished, they would just have to be stored in the gym until it could be picked up. The bus was going back to the bus garage and Rick would be damned if he’d take anyone’s stuff home. 

When he and Shane got back to the condo, they had a quick meal of a frozen dinner that they microwaved up (It was still better than Lori’s cooking by Rick’s estimation). Then they both jumped in the shower, Shane in his and Rick in the hall bathroom.

He was just toweling his hair dry when Shane poked his head into Rick’s room, “I’m out. I probably won’t see you until tomorrow afternoon. She’s got plans for us after she gets rid of her kid for the day.”

“Sounds good. I”m planning on taking Carl fishing if the weather holds out.” 

But Shane was already halfway down the hall and probably didn’t even hear Rick. “See ya!” he called before slamming out the door. 

Rick chuckled, Shane was like nobody he’d ever known and Rick wouldn’t trade him for the world. The guy had been with Rick through thick and thin. Since before high school and up to now. He probably depended on Shane too much, but Shane had always been there to lend a hand whenever Rick needed it.

It was probably going to crush him when he found out about Rick and Daryl. They didn’t lie to each other. Ever. And this was about as big a lie as you could get. Rick hoped their friendship would survive the revelation. Knowing Shane it would, but Rick would suffer while he waited for Shane to forgive him. Hell, Shane had known about Paul when Rick hadn’t had the courage to tell anyone back home and Shane hadn’t even batted an eye. “Hey, college is for experimenting,” he’d said.

The sun was just going down when Daryl came home, a small sack held firmly in his hand. He  had changed out of his uniform at some point and was wearing a black t-shirt and dark jeans with a baseball cap pulled low over his eyes. “Gonna shower,” he said as he strode past Rick and went straight to the bathroom. 

Sighing, Rick turned the tv off. It was just some stupid game show anyway. He hadn’t even been watching it, instead checking the clock every few minutes wondering when Daryl would be home. They had to talk. 

He wasn’t sure if Daryl would be pissed at him or if he’d let Rick slide, but Rick needed to apologize. 

Daryl was in the bathroom a lot longer than it usually took for him to shower. Rick was just getting worried when Daryl came out, a towel wrapped around his waist and the small bag still clutched in his hand. He didn’t meet Rick’s eyes as he hurried to the kitchen and threw the bag away.

Rick was curious, but didn’t say a word. Daryl wouldn’t be doing drugs or anything like that. Probably just forgot to throw away his dinner and mistakenly took it to the bathroom.

“Hey,” Rick spoke quietly. “We need to talk. I need to apologize.”

Daryl snorted, “I get it. Spencer made a big deal about wantin’ to go out with me and then we was sitting together at the pizza place. I shoulda known better.”

Rick sprang up from the couch, “No. You did nothing wrong. I don’t have any say in who you talk to. You’re a grown man and you can do what you want.”

Nodding his head and licking his lips, Daryl hesitated a minute before motioning to the bedroom with his shoulder. 

Ignoring Daryl’s subtle hint, Rick stepped closer to Daryl. Their eyes held as Rick put his hand behind Daryl’s head and pulled him in for a kiss. It was sweet and slow, Daryl falling into Rick and holding on tightly.

Rick pulled away and looked deep into Daryl’s eyes,  “I was wrong to give you the silent treatment because I was jealous. I’m sorry.”

“Wanna show you that you’re the only one,” Daryl said, a ghost of pink running across his features. 

“You don’t have to show me anything,” Rick said.

“I do,” Daryl breathed out. Slowly he pulled at Rick’s hand, breaking it free from Daryl’s neck. “I want you,” he tugged until Rick’s was where he wanted it, low on his towel covered ass, “I want you here.”

“Daryl.” Rick closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against Daryl’s.

I want you to fuck me, Rick.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I bet you all know what's going to happen next chapter! LOL
> 
> Also, I try and write as close to realistically as I can for the gay sex, so if you think you know what was in Daryl's bag, you are probably right.


	31. Chapter 31

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Smut and feelings. That is all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well today was a shit sucky day, wasn't it. I hope this chapter of sex makes you forget about it for a while. 
> 
> Beta'd by the fantastic 1lostone and TWDObsessive. They are a pair of aces in my deck of...yeah, I don't know where I'm going with that. Anywho, I've made changes after they looked at it, so any mistakes are mine. 
> 
> This is a gift for my dear friend TWDObsessive. 
> 
> And just like last chapter, I try and keep it real with the gay sex, so I apologize if you only want to think rainbows come out of Daryl's ass (but nothing gross, I promise).

Rick tried desperately to find the air that had been in his lungs a moment ago. He was going to need it because he wanted to ask Daryl if he was serious.

“You okay? You look a little pale,” the concern in Daryl’s eyes made Rick take a deep breath.

“Are you sure?”

Daryl pulled his top lip between his teeth and nodded.

“Is that what your errand was about?”

Now a deep shade of scarlet, Daryl answered, “I knew I needed to...you know, so it’s not gross. And I had to drive two counties over before I found a drugstore where I didn’t know nobody.”

“Ah.”

“So, do you...wanna?”

“Yes, yes of course. Are you sure?” Rick’s hands squeezed on Daryl’s arms.

Daryl rolled his eyes, “Hate to think I drove an hour outta my way and did all that other stuff if I wasn’t.”

Rick chuckled nervously, “Yeah. Okay. Any particular reason why now?”

Huffing, Daryl pulled out of Rick’s arms and started down the hallway to their room, “Just come on.”

“Hey, I really want to know,” Rick insisted when he joined Daryl.

He was standing in the middle of the room, back to the door, naked, his towel flung across the end of the bed. “I heard Shane tell ya he was gonna be out all night. And… I wanted to show you,” he paused and turned to look at Rick. “Wanted to show you that I’m serious and there ain’t nobody for me except for you.”

“ _ Daryl _ .” 

“I love you, Rick. I have for a long time.”

Overcome with emotion, Rick took the two steps to reach Daryl and wrapped him in strong arms. “God Daryl, I love you too.”

Rick didn’t miss the hitch in Daryl’s breath. Or the tightening of Daryl’s arms around himself. They stood like that, just holding each other for a long moment. Their hearts beating in tandem and their breaths matched. One heart, one breath.

“Rick,” Daryl said after a long moment, “Please.”

Licking his lips, Rick nodded and moved to capture Daryl’s lips in a delicate kiss, but Daryl wasn’t having it and deepened the kiss- his tongue seeking out Rick’s and dancing with it. Rick moaned and felt himself start to harden in the worn out sweats he was wearing.

Somehow they ended up on Daryl’s bed. Rick spread out under Daryl. He let his hands wander all over the strong arms and firm back, reveling in their perfection.

Daryl held onto Rick’s head with one hand, fingers entwined with brown curls, the other resting on the bed beside them. 

“I love you,” they whispered to each other over and over between kisses. 

Rick was more than content to do no more than hold and kiss and declare their love, but Daryl had other plans. He pulled away enough to help Rick wiggle out of his sweats and tug the t shirt off. 

Daryl’s hand then trailed across Rick’s chest and down further, fingers caressing through the hair as he worked his way down.

“I saw you without your shirt once sophomore year. It was at baseball practice and someone had spilled their gatorade on ya. I almost came in my pants when I saw all this chest hair,” Daryl said with a smile.

Rick grimaced, “Let’s not talk about you being a sophomore.”

Chuckling, Daryl let his hand stray farther down, circling around the base of Rick’s cock and grasping it lightly. Rick’s head fell back and his eyes flutter closed as Daryl slowly stroked Rick. It was torturous. 

But Rick could appreciate the slow buildup. He did not beg or attempt to make Daryl go faster or harder. They had the whole night. He would enjoy this. 

Daryl’s sensual touches kept Rick in that wonderful spot of highly aroused, but not ready to come. Intense, warm pleasure. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt this way. And all because of Daryl.

They didn’t speak - no words were needed. They moved together. Daryl teased him until Rick hauled him up so that they were face to face. Arms entwined, bodies touching everywhere, cocks nestled against each other as they exchanged lazy kisses. 

After a moment, Daryl pulled back and looked down at Rick, “We just gonna kiss and cuddle all night?”

Rick shrugged, “This is nice. We’re in no hurry.”

Daryl grunted and bit his lip, his eyes sliding away from Rick’s.

“You nervous?” Rick asked.

Easing himself off of Rick, Daryl said, “Ain’t nervous. Just...wanna do this right and not mess it up.”

Cocking his head to the side, Rick peered at Daryl with bemusement, “I don’t think you could mess it up. You weren’t worried about it at the lake.”

“Didn’t think about it all day before the lake.”

Rick sat up and dragged Daryl into an embrace, “We don’t have to do it. Or I could bottom again and that would be fine.”

“No, I want to do this.” Daryl pulled away and got up and pulled something from under the bed. Rick just got a glimpse of a bottle of lube and a box of condoms before Daryl turned the light off. The light from the street lamp bathed the room in silvery light, colors bleeding and making everything shade into gray. 

Daryl hesitated by the wall, but finally turned back to the bed where Rick was still laying. “I don’t want to wait anymore.”

Rick stood up and again wrapped his arms around Daryl, “That’s fine.” He found Daryl’s half hard cock and worked it slowly to bring it back to life. 

The movement soon accomplished the goal and Daryl was fully hard again. His head was on Rick’s shoulder and he was leaning into Rick’s touch and moaning his appreciation. Rick didn’t even have to touch himself, just having Daryl coming undone in his arms was enough.

Rick’s other hand trailed down until his fingers skimmed along the cleft between Daryl’s ass cheeks, “I guess I know what took you so long in the bathroom.”

Daryl tensed up and nodded his head in the V of Rick’s neck.

“I have an idea.” Fishing the towel from where it had fallen on the floor, Rick used it to cover a pillow to make a spot in the middle of the bed.  

“Lay down on your stomach and put your hips on the pillow,” Rick instructed Daryl.

A worried look crossed Daryl’s face, but he complied. He shuffled around until he got comfortable, his head pillowed in his crossed arms. Rick stood back to admire the view before finding the lube and climbing on the bed between Daryl’s knees.

Daryl’s whole body was rigid as he lay there, making Rick sigh. “Not gonna hurt you - you know that. Just relax and let me make you feel good.”

Nodding his head and then letting out the breath he was holding, Daryl loosened up a bit. 

Rick smiled and rubbed a hand along Daryl’s flank, warming up the still too tight muscles. He spent a few minutes at it, massaging all around Daryl’s thighs and ass, enjoying the touch and calming Daryl at the same time.

After a few minutes in which Daryl visibly unravels, Rick pours a bit of lube on his fingers and then gently runs a finger over Daryl’s tight hole. Daryl startles, but doesn’t pull away. Sensing a victory, Rick rubs at it harder, until just the tip of his finger is pushing in the tightness.

“Okay?” he asks.

“It’s fine,” Daryl responds.

“Good.” Rick said, his voice just a whisper.

Long moments spread out before them as Rick took his time working Daryl’s virgin hole open. His own cock was still hard, just from being this close to Daryl, but he could wait. He wanted to see if he could make Daryl beg for it. And then, without even thinking about it, he leaned in and licked next to where his finger was two knuckles deep.

“What the fuck!” Daryl cried, shooting a look over his shoulder.

“Sshhh, it’s alright. Just lay back down, you’ll love it,” Rick said, patting Daryl reassuringly on a sweet cheek.

Biting his lip, nerves on display again, Daryl nodded his head, “Okay.”

Rick flashed his best smile and then bent his head back to his task. He’d never actually done it before. He hadn’t even thought about it when he was with Paul, and Lori obviously never let him any where near her ass. 

Daryl had obviously been very thorough with his shower because he smelled like soap and Daryl and that was all. But it was perfect. Just like Daryl.

Lazy licks turned to sharp stabs and then back again. Rick taking full advantage of the freedom he had at the moment. No need to rush or be quiet, he could take his time and make Daryl…

“Fuck! Don’t stop. Please.”

...beg.

“Won’t. Not yet,” Rick assured him. 

Daryl pushed his ass back in a blatant appeal for Rick to get back to it and how could Rick not oblige? 

He worked his tongue around and around, pushing in and prying open Daryl’s little bud. Once it was to the point that Rick could stick his tongue in as far as it would go, he relubbed his fingers and pushed two alongside, going slowly. The catch in Daryl’s breathing going straight to Rick’s cock.

Daryl’s hands were clenching his pillow tight, his face was turned to the wall, eyes squeezed shut, and mouth open and panting. It was beautiful. Rick was the only person who had ever seen him like this, and may end up being the only one. Ever. 

The movement of Daryl’s hand caught Rick’s eye. Daryl was trying to work his hand under his body to grab his dick. Rick reached out and caught it, “Not yet.”

“Please,” Daryl whined.

Rick harrumphed and crooked his fingers, searching for Daryl’s prostate. He should have before now, but he’d been enjoying himself too much. Making Daryl come apart was such a rare thing that Rick had forgotten all things he could do to achieve that goal. 

“SHIT!” Daryl cried and jerked hard. “What the hell.”

“C’mon Daryl, you know what that is,” Rick chided as he rubbed the little bump as hard as he could.

“I didn’t know if felt like that!” Daryl whimpered.

Pausing, Rick asked, “Do you want me to stop?”

“Fuck no!”

It was harder to keep contact with Daryl’s prostate, what with the way he was squirming on Rick’s fingers, but Rick did his best. Hitting it three times out of four. And each time he hit it, Daryl’s ass would spasm and his legs would spread and push up.

He could do it until Daryl came, but Rick knew it was time to move on. Daryl whined so prettily when Rick dragged his fingers out. They’d have plenty of time to play around with that in the future. Tonight, they had a specific goal in mind and if Rick didn’t do it soon, his cock would never forgive him.

“Are you ready?” Rick certainly was.

Daryl nodded his head, “Yeah. I think so.”

Rick snorted, he’d been just as ambivalent the first time he’d bottomed. It was scary and exciting at the same time. It was supposed to feel great, but all you could think was that it would hurt. He’d never told Shane, but Rick had found out what they would have to do for pledge week beforehand. That was the time he’d actually met Paul. It was supposed to have been just a hookup so that Rick could know what to expect, but he and Paul had hit it off and were together for a while.  

Reaching over the side of the bed, Rick found the box of condoms and struggled to open it with slick fingers. 

Daryl looked over his shoulder and smirked, “Guess I shoulda already had one out for ya.”

“Just reminds me to slow down and enjoy the moment,” Rick said with a lazy smile.

Snorting, Daryl turned his head back around. Rick didn’t fail to notice that he was also starting to tense back up. The best cure for that was to just get on with it.

He finally tore open the box and pulled out the square of foil and tore it open with his teeth.  He couldn’t remember the last time he’d put a condom on. Maybe when he and Lori were dating. It was cool against his skin as he put it on, not enough to change anything, just to make his skin more aware. 

A large dollop of lube was smeared on his cock and another was dripped into Daryl’s winking hole. Rick lined himself up and paused. Daryl was drawn as tight as a bow. 

Instead of trying to calm him down with words and gentle hands, Rick pinched the top of an ass cheek.

“Hey!”

It did the trick, Daryl forgot for a split second and that’s when Rick was able to push the head of his cock into Daryl for the first time.

He stopped as soon as Daryl yelped. “Okay?” 

“Jus’...just give it a minute.”

“All the time you need.”

Rick used the time to let his hands wander along Daryl’s sides and back to his ass and then down to his thighs and then back up. Not trying to rush Daryl - just to let him know that Rick was there and willing to wait.

“Okay.”

But Rick didn’t push back in, no he pulled all the way out. He replaced his cock with his fingers and ran them all around the inside of Daryl again, making sure to run over his prostate several times.

“Rick…”

Holding back his chuckle, Rick caved to Daryl’s unspoken request. Pulling Daryl’s cheeks apart, Rick angled his cock and pushed. The head popped through and then the rest slid in like nirvana. Daryl’s whimper reminded Rick to take it slow.

“Gonna be good for you,” Rick promised.

He pulled out slowly and then pushed back in just as slow. It felt good, it felt right. But he felt too far away from Daryl, so he spread himself out over Daryl’s back, his hips pumping idly the whole time. 

Rick’s lips caressed and kissed Daryl wherever he could find some skin. Daryl tried to turn his head to capture those lips, but the angle was wrong, so he gave up. It was fine, this was good.

The moment that Daryl’s discomfort turned to pleasure was a feeling like the floodgates opening up. He started moving along with Rick, pushing back and rolling his hips. He was moaning, and his breaths became sharp and harsh.

“Told you I’d make you feel good.”

Daryl only moaned louder. 

Rick pushed himself up and dragged Daryl with him so that they were both on their knees and Daryl was holding himself up with his hands. The tempo increased, their bodies slapping together now.

“...Rick, Rick, Rick…” Daryl chanted.

He tried to reach for his bobbing dick again, but Rick wasn’t having it.

“No,” Rick said as he batted Daryl’s hand away.

Daryl fussed and whined a bit, but didn’t try again.

Deciding that he wanted to see Daryl’s face, Rick jerked himself out of Daryl and then manhandled Daryl onto his back, ass propped up on the pillow. Shifting Daryl’s legs so that his thighs were flat against his chest, Rick dove in again.

He loved the way Daryl looked. Sweat darkened his hair and beaded up on his forehead, eyes unfocused and staring at the ceiling, and hands clutching the sheets hard enough to rip them. 

“Daryl, look at me,” Rick demanded. 

When their eyes met, Rick finally wrapped his hand around Daryl’s very hard cock and stroked it in time with his thrusts. 

“Rick! I’m gonna come!” 

“Not yet, not yet…” 

Daryl grabbed Rick’s arms and squeezed as he tried to hold back. The sweat was rolling off his face in streams now, his eyes pleading with Rick.

And then Rick felt his orgasm coming. There was no way he could hold it back, “Now, Daryl!”

Daryl’s chest expanded and his features froze as his cock painted white stripes up his chest. Rick fucked him through the whole thing and then came with a shout.

His arms gave out and he collapsed in Daryl’s arms. Their sweat and come making them sticky.

“Guess we’re gonna need another shower,” he said after he caught his breath. 

“Yeah.” Daryl’s voice seemed far away.

Rick raised his head and looked at Daryl, “You okay?”

Daryl’s eyes slid away from Rick’s, but he nodded his head.

Putting a hand to the side of Daryl’s face, Rick rubbed a thumb along his temple, “You sure?” Looking deep into Daryl’s eyes Rick noticed that what he thought was sweat was actually tears. “Oh god, did I hurt you?”

He’d never forgive himself if he had. Never, never would he want to hurt this man.

Daryl closed his eyes and shook his head, “No. No, you wouldn’t ever hurt me.”

“Then what? You’re crying Daryl.”

“It was...too much,” Daryl whispered. “I don’t think I want to do that again.”

Rick’s face fell, “Oh, Daryl I’m so sorry. I won’t do that again.”

“It didn’t hurt. I just...I don’t know. I just don’t think I can do it that way. Okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. I understand.” Rick held Daryl close to him, “I don’t mind to bottom if you don’t want to. I like it fine. Let’s get that shower. I feel like the inside of a gym shoe after a forty mile run and I sure as shit don’t want both of us smelling like sex when Shane gets home tomorrow.”

They untangled themselves and went to take a long hot shower together. Rick spending the entire time trying to make up to Daryl and show him how much Rick treasured him. 

Because he was worth it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big thank you to my readers! This is my first fic that will hit 10k. I am humbled by your enthusiasm. Thank you so much for reading! Can you believe we're almost done??


	32. Chapter 32

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daryl finally understands what Rick's been trying to tell him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! You know I don't like giving away my story before you read it, but let's just say this chapter is the other shoe that you all have been waiting on to drop. 
> 
> Thank you so very much to 1Lostone and TWDObsessive for betaing! I added and subtracted since they looked at it, so any mistakes you see are mine.
> 
> This is a gift for my fellow Rickyl obsessed fan, TWDObsessive. She writes me under the table ya'll. lol

Fishing with Carl had been perfect. Sure, it had been hot and the mosquitos had been savage, but the delighted look on Carl’s face when he had caught his first fish was something Rick would treasure for the rest of his life. And the disgusted face he made when Rick suggested they cook it was just as precious.

Daryl had gone off to work. Rick wasn’t happy about him working on a Sunday, but Daryl reminded him that he had to work sometime. He insisted he needed to make money so he could take care of himself and move out of Shane’s condo.

Rick had fantasies of the two of them moving in together somewhere. But that was all they were- fantasies. There was no way that the two of them could live together like that. Not in this town. It wasn’t even the being out part that would be bad. It would be that Rick had been Daryl’s teacher and there would always be that suspicion. Even if it was mostly true, Rick didn’t want to have to deal with that.

Lori was standing on the porch when Rick dropped a properly tired Carl off. She didn’t even look in Rick’s direction, let alone acknowledge his half hearted wave. All her attention was on Carl, checking him to make sure he wasn’t hurt or dirty. Rick didn’t miss the slight wrinkle of her nose as she caught a whiff of Carl. Catching fish can be stinky work.

He flipped on the radio and cranked it as loud as he could stand it. Lori hated rock music and had never let Rick listen to it while they were together. Steven Tyler screaming out the lyrics to Draw the Line should piss her off.

When he got home, Shane was there and had his laptop set up on the kitchen table watching youtube videos of the team they would be playing on Tuesday. As far as Rick could tell when he looked over Shane’s shoulder, none of them were recent.

“Yeah, but the coach is the same, so we can see what his style is,” Shane explained when Rick voiced his concerns.

“Good point.”

Shane paused the video and turned to look at Rick, “Man, I don’t’ mean to be rude, but you stink like fish.”

Laughing, Rick backed off and held up his hands, “Fine, I’ll take a shower and do some laundry.”

“Good.”

Rick paused on his way down the hall and turned to Shane, “Hey, you haven’t seen Daryl have ya? He left this morning at the crack of dawn.”

“Nope. He probably won’t be home until after the sun goes down knowing him,” Shane said without looking up from the computer.

Rick nodded and turned to go to the bathroom, but another thought popped into his head, “Hey, how was your date?”

Shane paused the video and turned to Rick with a wide toothed grin, “Went great! She’s a little vixen for sure. Not sure why her husband would up and leave her.”

Rick paled and walked closer to where Shane was sitting, “Please tell me you aren’t talking about Lori.”

“The fuck? Hell no, man. I’d never do that to you. Lori’s hot and all, and to be honest if you hadn’t gotten there first, I’d have been all over it. But I sure wouldn’t do that now.”

“It’s just you’ve been secretive and you said she had a kid, so I guess I just assumed.” Rick ducked his head to hide his embarrassment.

Shane stood up and put his hand on Rick’s shoulder, “Man, I can’t imagine I’d ever do that. Maybe if...I don’t know, you didn’t wake up from a coma or something, but that would be just more me tryin’ to take care of your family for you.” Shane bobbed his head until Rick looked up, “I ain’t messing with your ex.”

“So, you gonna tell me who she is?” Rick asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Her name’s Rosita. And,” Shane smiled wistfully and looked off somewhere over Rick’s shoulder, “she doesn’t take anyone’s shit. She knows more about cars than me, maybe not as much as Daryl, but plenty. And I’m pretty sure she can kick my ass.”

Rick smiled, “Sounds serious.”

“Yeah, you know I ain’t to women with baggage, but man. I think she’s worth it.” Shane pulled out his phone and scrolled through until he found a picture to show to Rick.

Shane and a woman with a green military type hat and pigtails smiled back at Rick. “She’s from Texas, Houston I think,” Shane was telling Rick. “She’s here because her ex convinced her to come out here because he had a job lined up. Then he met a new chick and dumped Rosita. She hadn’t even told him she was pregnant yet.”

“What an ass,” Rick said as he handed back the phone.

“Seems like that’s been going around lately.”

“ ‘Cept I ain’t even got some guy to blame, Lori just didn’t want me around any more.”

“Her loss, man. There’s someone out there for you for sure.”

Rick thought about Daryl. Now would probably be a good time to tell Shane about the relationship. And he almost did, but he just couldn’t seem to find the words. He was going to have to buck up and tell Shane at some point, just at a better time.

Nodding and holding back a sigh, Rick went on into the bedroom. If Daryl wasn’t going to be back until well after dark, that meant it would still be a few more hours until Rick saw him. Which was fine, Daryl had his own life to live, but today was already the longest they’d actually spent apart since Rick had moved in.

He spent the time after his shower doing laundry and then talking with Shane about the game. It was hard to plan the batting line up when they didn’t know squat about the team they were playing. They’d even read all the local online news about the team that they could find.

All they found out was that the school was relatively new and well funded. The school was built on the grounds of an old foundry, so that’s what the school was called. Foundry High School. The coach was a big man with dark hair and a devil may care smirk that Rick found unnerving.

“They’re gonna be hard to beat,” Shane said in a rare show of pessimism.

“Nobody thought we would beat Woodbury, but we did,” Rick pointed out.

Shane shook his head and closed the laptop, “Extenuating circumstances.”

Rick was about to answer when the door opened and Daryl walked in looking dirty and tired. Doing his best not to look like he was staring in front of Shane, Rick let his eyes trace over Daryl’s broad shoulders and firm chest. There was no way they could be together tonight, not only was Shane home and sober, Daryl looked dead on his feet.

“Did you eat?” Rick asked, knowing that Daryl would skip meals if he had to and not even blink an eye.

“Yeah, grabbed a burger on the way home.”

Rick was skeptical, but didn’t say anything. He’d just find something for Daryl to snack on later. If he didn’t go straight to bed.

Shane glanced at his watch and then jumped up from the kitchen table, “Shit, it’s almost 11. I wanna watch the weather to see how hot it’s going to be for practice tomorrow.”

They sat on the couch and Shane used the remote to turn on the TV. The tail end of some police drama was on that Rick found rather pretentious and plodding. He’d only seen the killer once and knew who it was.

The news was just starting when Daryl came into the room in a pair of sweats and a t-shirt, his hair still damp and slicked back.. Rick was doing his very best to think about anything but a shower fresh Daryl until they mentioned Woodbury High School and Coach Blake and then all his focus was on the TV.

_“Charges are pending against a local high school teacher after allegations of sexual misconduct with a student,” the slick anchorman reported. “Philip Blake, Economics teacher and baseball coach at Woodbury High School, is accused of having an inappropriate relationship with an unnamed female student. That student died in a car accident where Blake was driving. Although the student was eighteen at the time, questions remain about how long the relationship had been going on and whether Blake had used his influence as a teacher to coerce the student. The school board has fired Blake in light of these allegations. Woodbury police are asking for the public’s help to identify any more potential victims.”_

“Andrea,” Rick whispered.

“Holy shit. I knew that guy was slimy, but I didn’t know he’d go after a student,” Shane said with disgust.

“She was eighteen, she was an adult,” Daryl said, a strange look in his eyes.

Shane shook his head, “Don’t matter. He was her teacher. Maybe if she hadn’t died in the car he wouldn’t be in trouble with the police, but the school board won’t put up with that shit.”

“What kind of charges are they talking about?” Daryl asked.

“Well, I don’t really know,” Shane said slowly, “but it could be manslaughter, statutory rape, or molestation. Or something else entirely. But the asshole won't ever teach again.”

Rick could see the exact moment that Daryl put the pieces all together, “So it doesn’t matter that she was eighteen?”

“Daryl, it doesn’t matter,” Shane waved his hand harshly, “He was her teacher. There’s supposed to be a level of trust. The guy needs to have his balls cut off and nailed to the wall.”

“She could have started it. Gone after him,” Daryl tried again.

“If I had a dollar for every student that came on to me, I’d have a bunch of money right now. Rick too, for that matter. We’re the ones in the position of authority. We’re the ones that are supposed to act responsible and behave. Have morals and all that shit.”

Darting a look at Rick, Daryl quickly got up and went down the hall to their bedroom. Rick wanted to follow, but just then they mentioned King High on the news and promised highlights from the upcoming game on Tuesday. Rick wasn’t sure he wanted that, but Shane was sure excited.

He desperately wanted to go talk to Daryl, find out what he was thinking, but he knew Shane would question him about it. So Rick stayed put and waited for the weather to cycle around.

Daryl came back out a few minutes later dressed in jeans and his hoodie. “Gotta go out for a bit. I’ll be back later. Don’t wait up.”

“Hey! We got practice tomorrow!” Shane called out.

But Daryl was already out the door. Rick’s heart felt like it had gone with him. His chest felt too tight and he was having a hard time breathing.

“Think I’ll go to bed,” he told Shane.

Shane cocked his head, “You okay man? You look a little pale.”

“Yeah, just not looking forward to cameras being there for the game.”

Smiling broadly, Shane said, “Send ‘em my way! I ain’t afraid!”

Rick forced a laugh and then went to his (their) bedroom. Not that he was going to sleep. He was too keyed up worrying about Daryl. He wasn’t sure if Daryl was thinking he’d been coerced by Rick or if he was worried about the implications of what they were doing. Either way, the relationship between Blake and Andrea, and Shane’s reaction as well as the potential legal ramifications, seemed to open Daryl’s eyes to the potential consequences of their own relationship.

He didn’t know much about the law, but he knew that he could lose his job and be drummed out of town if anyone found out. And, fuck, Lori could use it as ammunition in the divorce. But Rick already knew all this and had just pushed it aside. He was selfish and let himself be swayed.

But he didn’t want to give up Daryl. Not now. Not after these last couple of months. He loved Daryl, probably more than he’d ever loved Lori. Hell, he didn’t even remember being as upset about Lori kicking him out as he was right now worrying about Daryl and what was going through his head.

Rick paced the room, too nervous to even attempt sleep. Every few minutes he’d peek out the window to see if he could spot Daryl in the parking lot. But he wasn’t there.

It was after the third time looking out the window that Rick gave up and threw on some jeans and tennis shoes and went looking for Daryl. He wasn’t sure how Daryl was getting back and forth to his job, but Rick knew he didn’t have a vehicle. So that meant either someone picked him up or he walked. And Rick guessed that he hadn’t had anyone pick him up when he left earlier. There was a good chance he was still in the complex.

Thunder rolled across the sky and Rick prayed it didn’t turn into a full on storm. The weather person had said there might be pop up storms, but didn’t know when or where. Daryl would be scared shitless if he was caught out in it.

He was just getting ready to give up when Daryl found him. Rick didn’t even see him up in the tree, but of course Daryl had seen him. Probably from the time he’d walked out the door.

“Go away, Rick. Please.”

Rick didn’t fail to notice how shattered Daryl sounded. “Come down here and let’s talk.”

“Nothing to talk about Rick.”

“Daryl, you left in a huff. We need to talk.”

Rick couldn’t really see Daryl in the dark, but he could imagine that Daryl was biting his lip in thought. The waiting was hard, but pushing Daryl would just make him dig in his heels.

After a few minutes, Daryl jumped out of the tree with a soft thud. He kept his back turned to Rick.

“Daryl,” Rick started.

But Daryl cut him off, “I didn’t believe you.”

“We’ll just have to wait a bit longer is all,” Rick did not like the way this was going.

“Everyone will think you’re a perv and I’m a victim.”

“You’re not a victim Daryl.”

Daryl shook his head, “No. I’m an asshole. You _begged_ me. You told me what would happen and I didn’t believe you. I pushed you once I knew…”

“Knew what?”

“That I could,” Daryl said with a shrug. “You weren’t a fantasy anymore. You were real. And all I had to do was tempt you.”

Rick couldn’t deny that. There was no way that he would have gone after Daryl if Daryl hadn’t so aggressively gone after Rick. It didn’t matter though, they were here now and Rick didn’t want to give him up.

“I don’t care how we got here. I love you Daryl and I don’t want to lose you.” Rick reached for Daryl, but he pulled away.

“I don’t want to lose you either. But…” Rick’s heart broke as Daryl let out a strangled sob, “I don’t want you to get in trouble because of me.”

“Daryl…”

“No, Rick. I was wrong. And selfish. I don’t want to lose you, but I’m afraid what will happen when people find out. I don’t know what to do.” The anguish in his voice made Rick tear up.

He finally pulled a reluctant Daryl into his arms and ran a hand through the now dry hair, “I don’t think I could bear to lose you, Daryl.”

Daryl squeezed Rick hard and then pulled himself out of Rick’s arms, “I think we should cool it for a bit. I need to think. And... you need to think too.” Daryl took a few steps back, “I’ll be back in a bit and I’ll be there for practice. But you need to get back before Shane notices you’re gone.”

Rick tried to reach for Daryl again, but Daryl just turned and walked away and was swallowed up by the dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so. I couldn't let Shane date Lori. Not in this fic. I love Rosita and I think the two of them would be great together. Maybe she could tame his womanizing ways? And, Rosita was pregnant in the comics, so I just kinda expanded on that. 
> 
> And now that Daryl sees with his own eyes the fallout from Andrea and Philip Blake's relationship, he figured out what he's been doing to Rick.


	33. Chapter 33

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> People are starting to notice...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your awesome comments and all those kudos! Just knowing that you all like what I write makes me all warm and fuzzy on the inside. Also, you may have noticed the chapter count has gone up. No, I didn't write an extra chapter...I actually can't count. LOL
> 
> Thank you to my awesome betas, 1Lostone and TWDObsessive. I added quite a bit to this chapter, so any mistakes you see are mine.
> 
> This is a gift for my dear friend TWDObsessive. _smooches_

Rick didn’t think he would be able to sleep knowing that Daryl was out there in the dark stewing. He tried staying up for a while in hopes of catching Daryl when he came in, but somewhere in the night he fell asleep anyway. He dreamed that night of motorcycles and ice cream cones and promptly forgot about it as soon he woke up.

When he opened his eyes a quick glance at Daryl’s side of the room showed the hoodie Daryl had been wearing the night before draped over the end of the bed. So at least he’d come back. But whether he slept or not, Rick couldn’t tell. The bed was straightened up, if not actually made.

He could smell coffee brewing, so he hurried and got dressed. Unfortunately, all he found was coffee, Shane and Daryl were gone. Rick made himself a cup and then checked his phone.

Shane:  _ Daryl and I are going ahead to the field. He said you didn’t sleep well, so we thought we’d leave you be for a bit.  _

Daryl tended to ignore uncomfortable situations, so his running away, twice now, was worrisome. He and Rick had to talk, there wasn’t any two ways about it. But the way Daryl was acting was sure making it hard right now.

Rick shrugged and got ready to leave for practice. He had a whole team of boys he couldn’t let down. Brooding over one, no matter how much his heart was tangled up with thoughts of that one, wasn’t getting that done.

Practice was hot and miserable, the June humidity making it even worse. The team moms had their hands full handing out water and snacks. Rick finally called the practice a little after noon. “Go home and take a nap and I’ll see if I can get us in the gym for a bit. We can use the time working on catching some grounders.”

It took him an hour to track down the Jacqui and another hour to wait for her to show up and turn off the alarm and turn on the air for the gym. She’d only done it because the team was in the playoffs, Rick was under no illusions that he’d suddenly become a favorite. The expense sheet he’d turned in after their last away game had not gone over well. 

He took a quick trip home to shower and to see if he could catch Daryl. The whole time at practice Daryl had kept his baseball hat pulled down low over his eyes and refused to talk to Rick. He’d even gone so far as to walk away anytime that he could get away with it. Not that Rick would have started something there. Too many emotions and too many witnesses.

And damn if Daryl still wasn’t home when he got there. “Said he had an errand and he’d meet us at the gym,” Shane informed Rick.

Cursing under his breath, but knowing there wasn’t anything for it, Rick took his shower and put on a clean set of clothes. He made himself a PB&J and then was out the door and back on his way to the school. Time had gotten away from him and it had already been almost four hours since he’d sent the boys home. They still needed a couple of hours of practice tonight, but Rick didn’t want them up too late. They’d have a few hours on the bus before the game tomorrow and he didn’t want lethargy to creep in on the long trip. 

The gym was blissfully cool after the cruelty of the summer day. The team looked refreshed too, big smiles and laughter filled the gym instead of the bad attitudes and sweaty faces from earlier in the day. Quite a few looked liked they’d done as Rick had and showered. The afternoon off had done a world of good.

Daryl still wouldn’t look at or talk to Rick. In retaliation,during pitching practice, Rick threw fast, hard balls at Daryl to simulate a rocket coming back at him from a batter. Daryl had to decide to jump for the ball or duck out of the way as each ball came at him. Shane intervened when one of Rick’s pitches hit the far wall hard enough that everyone stopped and looked around. 

“Hey, don’t want to take his head off,” Shane cautioned, a worried look on his face. 

“We’re going up against a big league school and they have some of the best hitters in the state, Daryl has to be prepared,” Rick’s voice was gruff as he explained himself.

Shane stood with arms akimbo, nodding his head, “Yeah, I get it. But you’ve been throwin’ ‘em right at his head.”

Rick blinked and looked around the gym, for the first time noticing that all eyes were on him. A flush crept across his cheeks. His gaze finally settled on Daryl, who despite being the cause for concern, was still not looking at Rick. Instead he was biting a nail and studying the inside of his glove like all the answers in the world lay there. 

Glancing at the clock, Rick noted the time, “Looks like it’s dinner time. Ya’ll get on home and have a good dinner and no Coke! We’ll see you in the parking lot at eight a.m.”

He turned and headed for the exit, not wanting to spend another moment stuck in a room with Daryl, even as big as the gym, and not be able to talk to him. Shane could make sure everyone was out. Rick needed to get away for a bit. Needed to get his mind off Daryl and the game and all of it. He hurried to his truck, desperate to get out of there.

“Coach!” 

Rick paused and waited for Aaron to catch up to him, doing his best to look patient. “What’s on your mind?”

Aaron hesitated and looked around before answering, “I’m worried about Daryl. And you.”

Rick nodded his head, “Just nerves is all. I know I’m working ya’ll too hard.”

Aaron gave a quick shake of his head, “No. That’s not it.” He tilted his head to the side, “Look, I know it’s none of my business, but I think that crush Daryl had on you has turned into something more. And you know it.”

Rick looked away, “You’re right, it ain’t none of your business.”

“Look, I get it. There can’t be anything going on between the two of you. And if anyone were to ask me I would tell them that you and Daryl are coach and player and that’s it.”

Nodding, Rick still couldn’t look at Aaron, the panic of being found out roaring in his chest.

“But, this  _ thing  _ that isn’t happening between you guys is messing with you both. And one of you all is going to break if you don’t fix it. I don’t know what the fix is, but Daryl obviously loves you and I don’t know how he would handle being broken by you.”

“You done?” Rick asked, his voice tight with a hard edge.

Aaron nodded his head, “Yeah. I got nothing else to say. Not to you or anyone else.”

“Good, see you tomorrow at eight.”

He took the long way home, blasting out whatever loud, crazy music he could find in hopes of distracting himself from the conversation in the parking lot. Aaron was too close to the truth. Even if he had assured Rick that he wouldn’t say or do anything, just the fact that he knew meant that someone else might know too. Rick wasn’t even sure if he was worried about himself or having the team’s winning season tainted by a scandal that he’d caused. 

After a while he turned down the music and called Shane. “Sorry man, guess this game has got my head all messed up. How about I stop and pick up a pizza?”

“I’ve had about as much pizza as I can stomach, why don’t you pick up some wings instead?” The pizza place sold wings too, so it didn’t make a difference to Rick. 

“Fine with me,” he said.

“Good, let me ask Daryl what kind he wants,” his voice grew muffled as he called out to Daryl, “ _ Hey, how hot do you like your wings? _ ” Rick couldn’t hear what Daryl said, but whatever it was, Shane didn’t like it. “ _ Don’t care man, Rick’s buying and I ain’t passin’ that up and neither are you. You can buy the next round if it bothers you that much. _ ”

Rick dropped the phone in his lap so he could switch gears as he turned into the pizza joint. He was parked and getting out of the truck before he was able to put it to his ear again.

He hadn’t missed much, because he could still hear Shane arguing with Daryl. “Shane!” Rick cut in, “I’ll just get mild, medium, and spicy and we can worry about it when I get home.”

“Fine, but get garlic spicy. And don’t forget the carrots and celery so we can say we had some vegetables,” Shane said with a laugh.

Chuckling along with Shane, Rick agreed and hung up. Shane always could lighten a mood if given enough time. 

The place was packed with folks there to watch one of half a dozen games on the big screen TVs scattered around the restaurant. Rick regretted not calling in his order, since it was probably going to take a while, so after he gave his order he bought a beer to drink while he waited. 

Sitting at the small table, looking around the noisy room as he nursed his beer, he couldn’t help but notice all the families. Husbands and wives and kids. Some happy, some clearly stressed out, but whole families. 

There was a time that he was one of those husbands. Out at a restaurant eating with his wife and child. But that was behind him now. He and Lori were through, there was no denying it. 

Over in the corner there were two men. He squinted his eyes and looked closer. Yeah, they were sitting on opposite sides of the table, but Rick was pretty sure they were together by the way they only had eyes for each other and barely glanced at the young blonde waitress that dropped their order at the table. And that gave him hope for having a relationship with Daryl, they could be subtle like that. Hell, half the time Daryl ghosted in and out of rooms without anyone even noticing. .

He drained his beer when they called Rick’s name for his order. The woman that handed him his order gave Rick an appraising look, but he only gave her a polite smile before walking out the door. On the way home Rick tied to think of ways to get Daryl to talk to him. He was pretty sure Daryl wouldn’t run out again, not having slept much the night before and then practice most of the day, he ought to be dead tired. Rick could catch him before they fell asleep.

Shane did most of the talking at dinner. His eyes darting between Rick and Daryl as he talked about anything that came to mind. Efforts to bring the other two into the conversation only earned grunts for his effort. 

Daryl was busy eating and avoiding Rick’s gaze; Rick was not eating and trying to catch Daryl’s.

“...and that’s when I took off my bra and let my tits fly,” Shane said, his eyes narrowed as he looked at Rick.

“Oh? That’s interesting,” Rick replied, pushing carrots sticks around on his paper plate.

Shane sighed and pushed his chair back and stood up, “Rick, Daryl, I don’t know what’s going on with you two, but you need to figure it out. And now. We got the biggest game we’ve ever played tomorrow and the two of you fighting is not helpin’.”

Rick swore and ran his hands through his hair, “You’re right. I guess it’s just stress.” He abruptly stood up, “I think I’ll go for a run.”

Tossing his plate in the trash he went to his, no,  _ their _ room, and changed into running gear. His eyes lingered on Daryl’s bed, memories flashing through his mind. He was frustrated that Daryl was still stonewalling him. Not that they could talk in front of Shane, but Rick felt like a dog left out in the cold. Standing straight and squaring his shoulders, Rick took a deep breath and left the room. He didn’t even look at Shane and Daryl as he walked through the apartment and out the door.  

Rick ran until after the sun went down and the lightning bugs had stopped flickering. Ran until everything around him was quiet and only the mist kept him company. He ran through the condominium complex and down the street. He didn’t have a direction, just ran where his feet took him. Down familiar streets and landmarks. Past homes of teachers and students, people he knew and that knew him. People he’d let down with his selfishness. 

It shouldn’t have been a surprise when he found himself running through the school’s parking lot and onto the baseball field. It was probably his favorite place to be and the place he’d spent a good deal of his life, so naturally his subconscious mind brought him there. 

He jogged around the bases and then finally came to a stop at home plate. Bending over and putting his hands on his knees, he worked on catching his breath. The field was soft and peaceful, the noises from the neighborhood barely noticeable, like a radio softly playing in another room. Evidence of the years of hard use of the field were all around him though. The worn out grass by the bullpen, the chipped paint on the handrails around the dugout, and the dingy looking benches that were the same ones he’d sat on when he was in high school. The fence was new since the tornado, and all the grass in the outfield as well, but it was still the same field that Rick had spent so many spring and summers on since he was fourteen. 

If he and Daryl somehow tried to stay together, he’d lose all this. He’d never be able to teach again because no one would trust him. There would be an investigation and all of his relationships with his students would come into question. Daryl would be drug through the mud too, even if his name never officially came up, everyone would find out anyway. Shane probably wouldn’t be immune either since Rick and Daryl were living with him. At the very least Shane would be questioned as to why he let it happen.  At worst, well, people would think pretty awful things about what could have happened between the three of them at Shane’s place. Nevermind that everyone knew that Shane was the posterboy for heterosexual male cliches.   

But was Daryl worth it? Daryl who made him smile and made him happier than he’d probably ever been? The person he thought about all day and all night, the person who made him feel things he’d never felt before...was he worth Rick giving up his love of high school baseball and teaching? Was Daryl more important than his friendship with Shane?

Rick didn’t know. He bowed his head and scuffed his toe in the dirt. His thoughts tumbled through his mind a mile a minute. Fears of being found out fighting with fears of losing Daryl. Thoughts of how devastating it would be to let Daryl go warred with thoughts of the devastation of having his career snatched from him. 

The first tear landed on the top of his running shoe. The next one on home plate. Before long Rick was crying in earnest, his hands covering his face as he tried to smother his sobs. His knees gave out and he fell to the dirt. His fear and misery wrapped around him like a cloak as he gave in and let the sobs take over. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh, the cracks are starting to show! Poor Rick. 
> 
> Hey, have you guys read a fic that you loved, but isn't getting the attention you think it deserves? You can share it here! I love getting great recs. It doesn't matter what fandom it is (I'm just a whore for the E rating), so just leave a link! I can't guarantee I'll read it (I do already have 6 open tabs and I'm behind on at least 3 other fics), but if it looks interesting, I'll open a tab!
> 
> I'll start! Mine is actually a series, and since it's from 1Lostone, you know it's quality. And, tbh it's actually well loved already, but I just read it and loved it and I wanted to share with you. It's Teen Wolf, so it's ABO. (where is my smiling imp??) https://archiveofourown.org/series/22794


	34. Chapter 34

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ah, Rick's got to pull it together for the big game.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for your lovely comments and kudos and bookmarks and subscriptions! I'm so very glad you are still here and reading this fic!
> 
> Thank you to 1Lostone and TWDObsessive for their beta work. As you might guess, I worked on it after they looked at it. 
> 
> This is a gift for my dear friend TWDObsessive. She makes me look like an novice! 
> 
> (Also, this is a few minutes late because AprilValentine and I were discussing Rick's thoughts and feelings in this fic)

Morning came too early, but seemed to take longer than necessary in that weird way that happens when dawn is breaking. Rick knew he slept when he got back home, but how much, he couldn’t say. He still felt groggy and in a sleep fog when he woke. 

Daryl was already gone again. And having been asleep when Rick got home, that meant that Rick still hadn’t spoken to him like he desperately wanted. He needed to know what was going through Daryl’s mind. Did he want to brave the social stigma, or was he willing to walk away?

Neither option made Rick happy. But there was no way they could go on like they were. Someone was bound to find out. Would they be able to weather the storm? Or fall apart like a ship smashed against the shore?

He wasn’t too late to the parking lot. Most of the kids weren’t there yet. Shane was busy checking them in and making sure they had all their gear. Rick didn’t see Daryl anywhere. And after a moment he didn’t have time to even think about his uncommunicative lover. 

Between one blink and the next the parking lot was full of kids, parents, well wishers, and news people. Rick was cornered at the back of the bus, recorders and microphones clustered around him, waiting on his every word. 

_ “How do you feel about going to the championship?” _

_ “Are your boys ready for this?” _

_ “Do you think you’d be here if it weren’t for the issues at Woodbury High?” _

_ “Do you have any comments on the indictment of Coach Blake?” _

Rick started and looked around for the reporter that asked the last question, “What?”

“Coach Philip Blake was indicted on vehicular manslaughter, wanton endangerment, failure to control his vehicle and gross misconduct by an authority figure,” the grizzled sports reporter for the local newspaper said.

“Oh,” was all Rick could manage. 

“So do you have a comment?”

Rick shook his head, “No, no I do not. Out of respect for the family of the girl involved, I don’t have anything to say about that.”

The questions probably would have continued if the bus hadn’t started up and belched out noxious fumes all over the reporters. Rick hid his smile and vowed to buy T-dog a Blizzard when they got back from the game. The group surrounding Rick quickly broke up and Rick hurried onto the bus, they had a good ways to go and he didn’t want them to be held up any longer.

T-dog negotiated the bus out of the packed parking lot with a deftness born of many years of experience and down the road lined with well wishers. It seemed like the whole town and half the county had shown up to see them off. A young boy sitting on his dad’s shoulders caught Rick’s eye. His heart twisted a bit at that, it would have been nice if his own family would have been here. Carl would have been so excited. Rick suspected his son didn’t even know that the team was in the championship.

Once they were on the way and the team was settled, Rick walked down the middle of the bus, saying words of encouragement to the boys as he went. He was proud of his team, no one thought they would get this far. And despite the problems at Woodbury, they deserved to be here and he wanted them all to know it.

Daryl was at the back of the bus, sitting with Glenn. He had his head laying against the window watching the scenery go by and pointedly ignoring Rick.

“Glenn, I want you to know that I’m glad you’re here. You play an important part on the team, and I don’t think we’d be here without you.”

“Thanks Coach, but I don’t have much to do when Daryl is pitchin’,” Glenn said as he nudged Daryl in the side good naturedly. 

Daryl snorted quietly, but didn’t turn away from the window.  Rick thought about giving Daryl an attaboy too, but it would only go on deaf ears.  

Rick shook his head, “You encourage everyone on the team to do their best and you always give 110% when you do play. You set an example.”

Glenn’s face split into a wide smile, “You mean it?”

“Every word! Right, Daryl?” 

Daryl chewed his lip before turning and nodding his head at Glenn, eyes never straying towards Rick. “Yeah, everybody likes you best.” He turned and looked back out the window, clearly dismissing Rick.

Despite knowing Daryl wouldn’t accept them, Rick couldn’t give words of encouragement to everyone and leave Daryl out, “Hey, Daryl. If it weren’t for you, we definitely wouldn’t be here. It’s a team effort, but your arm played a major role and you should be proud.”

Still not actually looking at Rick, Daryl turned away from the window enough to say, “Thanks, Coach. I’m glad I could help the team, but you know I didn’t do it just for them.”

Rick swallowed hard and held Daryl’s eyes for a moment longer than necessary and then turned  to the other side of the aisle where Ron and Jimmy were sitting. “You guys really stepped up this year and showed some leadership out on the field. You’ve pitched some great games and now because of that we’ve got just one more to win.”

“Aw, Coach, I play backup to Daryl and everyone knows it. I only play when everyone knows we’re gonna win,” Jimmy replied.

“Not true,” Rick said with a shake of his head. You play on rotation, same as the other two pitchers. Us being here, in the playoffs, that’s because of everyone pulling together and working towards a goal. And we’re here because of you and all the other guys. Don’t downplay how important you are to the team just because someone else gets all the attention.”

Daryl’s head shot up and he looked at Rick with an unreadable expression. Rick looked back as calmly as he could. He could feel the tension crawling off Daryl and  _ damn _ what he wouldn’t do to be able to get Daryl alone and pry out what the hell he was thinking.

After a short, awkward staring contest, Daryl rolled his eyes and turned back to the window to watch their progress out of town. Rick huffed an aggravated breath and turned to go back to the front of the bus. 

“I don’t know what’s going on with you and Daryl, but I hope it won’t affect the game today,” Shane said with all the subtlety of a barbed wire wrapped bat.

“Ain’t nothin’ to worry about,” Rick said gruffly and turned to look out the window, unintentionally mimicking Daryl sitting several rows behind him. He ignored Shane's snort of disbelief. 

The game was being played at Atlanta State University, the first time many of the boys would be playing on a college field. Rick and Shane had played a few games here when they were in college. It was an impressive field funded by proud alumni with stands and amenities that rivaled many of the minor league fields. 

Despite the game not starting for another two hours, the parking lot was near full and people were milling about between the cars and around the field. The atmosphere was definitely like a festival or a county fair. Vendors were everywhere selling everything from jerseys to hot dogs to furniture made of baseball equipment. 

The bus maneuvered around to the back where they could unload and get right to the fieldhouse without being overrun with people. Rick could see the other school’s bus pulling up behind them out of the corner of his eye. It wasn’t a yellow bus, but a full size tour bus complete with tinted windows and under carriage storage for equipment.

Rick looked back at the yellow bus that he was pretty sure the school was using when he was in high school. He looked at the peeling paint and the rusted wheel wells and smiled. This bus had history, and as he watched everyone get off and then T-dog himself left the bus, Rick remembered it also had character. Not to mention it now carried a very vivid memory of a rainy night somewhere in a far flung corner of Georgia. 

King High looked a bit ragtag compared to Foundry High, but Rick’s team was interacting with each other and cutting up, their teammates like family. The other team looked like a military squad on review. Each kid got off the bus and stood next in line to the kid that got off before him. No one spoke or fidgeted. 

They were scary looking little fucks too, if Rick were to be honest. Big kids with mean faces and thick limbs. Daryl was probably the only kid on Rick’s team that could possibly look like he would belong with them. Not that Rick could even imagine that, someone would have to drag Daryl away kicking and screaming for Rick to even think about Daryl leaving the team. Except he would be after this game. Rick shook off that thought as best he could. 

Foundry High’s baseball coach was the last to get off the bus. He was a big guy himself, easily a head taller than Rick. He eschewed traditional coach wear of shorts and a jersey and instead wore dark jeans and a white t-shirt. Shane had said the guy’s name was Negan, but wasn’t sure it if was first name or last name. Just Coach Negan.

Negan reviewed his team while twirling and swinging an old beat up Louisville Slugger. He was shouting at his team as he strutted up and down the line, but anything he said was lost to Rick because his boys were making so much noise. 

Flushing slightly, he surveyed his team before shouting, “All right! Let’s get ya’ll into the fieldhouse and get sorted. I want plenty of time to warm up!”

It took a few minutes, but they finally all shuffled inn to the little building. Rick stayed behind to make sure no equipment was left on the bus or the ground. Shane sidled up to him as he was going into the building.

“Did you see those boys? Some of ‘em look like they could play pro ball right now.”

Rick nodded, “Yeah. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were recruited.”

“Heard their coach is a hard ass too. Not afraid to bench a kid or kick him off the team if he even looks at him funny,” Shane said.

“That’s not how high school baseball is supposed to be. Maybe elite college or even farm teams, but not high school.”

Shane nodded. Just before they made it to the door, Shane put a hand on Rick’s arm to stop him, “We ain’t got a chance, brother.”

Rick sighed and put his head down. “Maybe,” he said after a moment,”Maybe not. But we can give them hell.”

Shane smiled and clapped him on the back as they entered the noisy building.

A half hour later everyone was out on the field and warming up. Shane lead them in calisthenics as Rick watched. Every occasionally his eyes would steal over to where the other team was also working out. Rick’s dream of winning diminished after every perfectly synchronized push up, jumping jack, and sit up performed by the other team. They were a well oiled machine and would steamroll right over King County High.

He’d given up watching the other team and was working on making sure he was happy with the line up when he felt a hand clap him hard on the shoulder. 

“Got a fine looking team there, Rick. I can call you Rick, can’t I?” 

Rick turned and tilted his head up to meet the eyes of Coach Negan. He stepped out from under the weight on his shoulder and stuck out his hand, “Rick Grimes.”

The other man smiled a toothy grin and clasped Rick’s hand in a hard grip, “Coach Negan. Nice to make your acquaintance.”

“Likewise,” Rick said as he squeezed back.

Negan tilted his head and sucked his teeth noisily before letting go and turning towards Rick’s team on the field, “Like I said, you got a fine looking team.”

“Thank you, your team looks damn fine too.”

Negan turned back to Rick,”They do, don’t they?”

There was nothing outwardly wrong about the guy, but his smugness and over the top nature rubbed Rick the wrong way from the start. Hopefully this would be a brief encounter. Negan's next comment blew that hope out of the water.

“I’ve been offered a coaching position for this very school we’re at today.” And then Negan startled Rick by throwing the top half of his body back and bellowing, “Can you  _ imagine _ . Getting the chance to coach college boys! Getting ‘em ready for the big leagues! Never thought I’d get the chance.”

Rick turned and looked out on the field, his eyes catching on Daryl, “High school baseball’s enough for me. Like seeing a kid develop on and off the field.”

Negan’s eyes darted between Rick and Daryl, “Is that so?”

Not noticing what Negan was looking at, Rick let his gaze linger on Daryl, “Yeah. They come in as boys without direction and you spend a few years with them and teach them about baseball and life and before you know it, they’re out in the world being men.”

“Hate to say it Rick, but you don’t look much older than your team. How many boys have you made into men anyway?”

Rick didn’t miss the double entendre in that statement and turned quickly to look Negan in the eye, “The seniors are the first one’s who’ve played for me since their freshman year. And I’m not sure I like what you are implying.”

Negan stepped back and held up his hands in mock surrender, “Just gettin’ under your skin. Not implying anything.” He leaned in close to stage whisper in Rick’s ear, “I just call ‘em as I see ‘em.” 

Rick didn’t miss the way Negan’s eyes darted over to Daryl, as though he knew. Rick exerted all his willpower not to look at Daryl. It would be a dead giveaway and he was sure that Negan wouldn’t fail to notice. 

With a sudden change of attitude, Negan looked back at the field, “As I was saying, I’m thinking about coaching college ball next year and I’m always looking for new talent.” He gestured out to where Daryl and Glenn were tossing a ball back and forth, “Your pitcher there - Dixon, right? I’d love to get him on my team.”

Rick gripped the metal of the handrail above the dugout painfully, “Daryl isn’t going to college,” he said as calmly as he could.

“What? An arm like that and he ain’t going to college? Thought you worked on these boys to get ‘em ready to be men.”

“Daryl just joined the team this year,” Rick’s voice was slow and steady, with a bit of steel, “and he never planned on going to college. He’s already got a job lined up that he’s been working. He’s only doing this for fun.” 

Negan looked at Rick appraisingly, sucking his lip between his teeth noisily. Rick stared back, keeping his expression neutral.

Finally breaking the tension, Negan said, “So it wouldn’t hurt for me to try and change his mind?”

Rick shook his head, “You aren’t going to change his mind. This is his last game.”

Negan nodded his head again and looked out at the field, “Makes me wonder why he even bothered playing this year if he never did it before now and doesn’t plan on doing it again,” he turned to look at Rick, “You know what I mean?”

Turning away from Negan’s speculative gaze, Rick said, “He couldn’t afford it before now. Not only did he play baseball, but he worked and kept his grades up just so he could be on the team. And he didn’t need me to teach him to be a man, he was one already when he stepped out onto the field the first time back last fall for tryouts.”

“I bet,” Negan snorted.

Rick looked up when he saw Shane come into the dugout, a fierce expression on his face. Negan must have recognized it too because he turned to Rick and said, “Good luck. Nice meeting ya. And I’m serious about Daryl, I’d take him in a heartbeat.”

“Not on your life,” Rick growled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh! Do you guys think they are going to win??
> 
> Also, I need you to go back and look for the line that made 1Lostone say, _"Shame on you. Shame on your cow!"_


	35. Chapter 35

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The game and then The Talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for all your comments and kudos. You guys are not only awesome, but pretty damn funny. I can't believe it's almost done! 
> 
> Thank you to 1Lostone and TWDObsessive for betaing for me. And in a new twist, TWDObsessive looked over it again tonight! (But all errors are still mine because I'm a possessive jerk like that)
> 
> This also happens to be a gift for my very good, very talent, and very dirty minded friend, TWDObsessive.

King High got off to a great start, no denying it. No one on Foundry’s team got a hit off of Daryl for the first two innings. But then no one on King High got a hit off of Foundry’s pitcher, a kid named Dwight something or another. The kid looked rougher than Daryl ever thought of being. The healed burn scar on the side of his face just making it worse.

Glenn started off the third inning with a single run home run, hit just past the foul ball line into the stands. Shane must have screamed himself hoarse, cheering Glenn on to home base.  There were many an ass slap and head taps for Glenn when he got back to the dugout.

“Told you we can win this thing,” Shane said with his wide smile.

Rick smiled back, but with more caution. Coach Negan’s plan may very well be to lull them into over confidence. “We ain’t won yet.”

“Pft, guy’s nothin’ but a blow hard,” Shane said.

Everything fell apart after that. Foundry’s boys weren’t one bit intimidated by Daryl’s fastball. More than one came right back at him, making Daryl have to duck. Rick pulled him in the sixth inning when he tried to throw a curveball. He was not willing to risk Daryl’s arm, even if Daryl was. Besides, Daryl was obviously angry that they weren’t intimidated by his wicked fastball.  

Glenn got beaned in the head in the seventh inning, causing everyone to hold their breath until Glenn popped up with a lopsided grin. Luckily, he was wearing his two caps like he had been since earlier in the season. Rick had to pull him and put one of the underclassmen in his place.  

With their two best players out, it was hard to hold back the tide. Rob and Aaron worked well together to keep the base hits down, but Foundry’s boys hit home runs like they were nothing. 

They lost 10-2. Bob’s surprise home run at the top of the eighth too little and too late to turn the tide. Rick was still proud of the boys and everyone involved. 

The bus was quiet on the way home. The boys were tired and there were more than a few damp eyes. Poor T-dog had out and out cried behind the bus as they loaded up. Shane had given a speech about how the boys had earned the right to be there and it wasn’t on them that they lost. The other team was better funded and better coached (the boys hissed at that).

When they got back to the school, the parking lot was crowded with cars. Families and friends had come out to cheer on their team, and Rick was glad to see them. Even though they hadn’t won, they had accomplished more than anyone thought they could. He wasn’t ashamed. He stood at the front of the bus and gave each boy a pat or a hug on their way out, reminded them how proud he was and to remind the underclassmen he expected to see them next season.

Daryl hung back of course. There wasn’t anyone to greet him after all. It was a good bet that he just didn’t want to have to interact with Rick in front of the other kids. Rick wasn’t having it though. 

“C’mon Daryl, hiding in the back ain’t like you,” Rick said as he stood next to Daryl’s seat. 

Daryl huffed, but got up out of his seat. He charged down the aisle as though he’d breeze right by Rick, but Rick stood between the first row to stop him.  Gripping the seat back, Daryl looked at his feet waiting for Rick to move.

“It ain’t on you,” Rick said softly.

Shaking his head, Daryl said, “I gave up the hits, it’s on me.”

Rick ducked his head, trying to catch Daryl’s eyes, “Hey. Look at me. Those boys, they eat, sleep, and shit baseball. They’ve been playing since they could hold a bat in their hands. Hell, I bet they could beat most of the college teams.”

Daryl looked out the window at all the families milling about, hugging their kids and being upbeat despite the loss. 

“Look at them,” Rick said. “No one is mad or yelling, everyone is proud of this team and what you all accomplished.”

“Good for them,” Daryl said sarcastically.

“Daryl…”

“Ain’t nobody out there for me. Ain’t no one come to tell me how  _ proud _ they are of me. Now just let me by, I can try and get a few hours in at work if I hurry.”

“It’s eight o’clock at night Daryl, it’s too late.”

“Sun’s still out,” Daryl said stubbornly.

Just then Shane stuck his head in the doorway of the bus, “Ya’ll come on. Everyone wants to see ya.”

Rick looked out the window and did see the majority of the crowd looking at them through the glass. He turned back to Daryl and looked at him with a smug face, “See? Everyone is waitin’ for you.”

Daryl’s face paled slightly as he looked out over the mass of people, the fear of being in the spotlight clear as day in his wide eyes. 

Rick turned to where Shane was still waiting and said, “I’ll come on out and talk to them, but you’re gonna have to get Daryl out of here as quick as you can.”

Shane gave a short nod, “Sure thing, Coach.,” and ducked back out into the fray.

“Don’t need your pity, just let me by.”

“Fine, but since I’ve finally got you alone, we need to talk later,” Rick said sternly.

Daryl sucked his bottom lip loudly while looking out the window, clearly thinking hard. Rick let him. If he pushed, Daryl would disappear again.

“I’ll see you back at Shane’s,” was all that Daryl would allow as he pushed past Rick and out the bus door.

There was a cheer and then Shane’s voice hollering over the rest, Rick couldn’t make out what he said. Wasn’t listening really. He was too busy wondering if he’d really get a chance to talk to Daryl. To find out where they stood. If they were through. 

Rick’s gut twisted as he made his way off the bus. 

***

The DQ had stayed open late waiting for the team to get back. And even though they didn’t win, everyone ate for free. Rick had never been so happy about losing in his life. The mood was almost as good as if they had actually won. And Rick was grateful. The whole organization had worked hard all season to get to where they were now and they deserved to be proud.

He knew Daryl was there somewhere, had seen his bowed head among the team when they got there. Rick wasn’t sure who had given him a ride or convinced him to even go, but suspected Glenn and his family. Rick planned to give the Rhee boy a good sportsmanship award during the awards ceremony that would happen in a week or two.

After many backslaps and firm handshakes, hugs and even some kisses, Rick was finally able to go home. He was tired. And he just wanted to spend some time alone with Daryl. Even if only for a moment. 

The condo was quiet when he got there, Shane and Daryl not making it back yet. He spent the time waiting by taking a shower and cleaning up. He had just toweled off and was heading to his bedroom when Shane and Daryl came home.

The sound of the fridge opening and slamming closed was followed by Shane’s shout of, “I’m going out for beer.”

It was good he was leaving, even for a moment, that would give Rick time to talk to Daryl. Or at least look at him close up without the younger man running off.

“Daryl,” Rick called from the bedroom.

He came to the bedroom, sullen and defiant.”You sound like a pervert.”

Rick blanched. “Not what I intended.”

“I know,” Daryl’s voice was gruff. 

“Can we talk?” Rick asked.

Daryl shrugged, but came into the room. “Shane’ll be back soon.”

“Won’t take long,” Rick promised.

“What do you want to talk about?” Daryl asked as he sat on his bed, arms crossed.

Rick sat on his own bed, trying to look relaxed and calm.

Taking a long steadying breath, he asked, “What are we doing?”

“Sitting in Shane’s extra bedroom,” Daryl said with a smirk.

“Cut the bullshit, Daryl. You’re avoiding me. And I don’t know why.”

“I been thinkin’,” Daryl said after a long, terse moment.

“About what?"

Daryl huffed and looked down at his boots. “You mostly. Can you put some pants on? This is awkward enough.”

Rick snorted, but got up and rummaged in his dresser for his old jogging pants. “Better?” he asked as he slid them on.

“Slightly.”

Rick put his hands on his hips and tilted his head, “So are we gonna talk?”

“I’m moving out,” Daryl said abruptly.

“Okay?” Rick asked, nonplussed.

“And I think...I think I need to be on my own.” 

Rick felt a prickle of fear stab in his stomach, “You mean live on your own?”

Daryl stood up quickly and then bent back down to reach under his bed and pull out a battered duffle bag, “No, I mean. I think I should just...not be with you anymore.”

“What?” Rick couldn’t hold back the surprise and hurt in his voice.

“Yeah, I mean, I’m eighteen, you know. And I already got a job and a place to stay over by the garage. It’s just a little trailer, but once I go full time at the shop, it shouldn’t be no problem,” he said as he stuffed the bag with his clothes.

“Why? I thought,” Rick stumbled over his words, “I thought we were good.”

Daryl paused in packing his bag, “It’s for the best. Maybe you can go back to your wife and kid. I’m sure they miss ya.”

“She kicked me out, and I don’t want to go back to her. Yeah, I’d love to have Carl everyday, but that part of my life is over. You are my life now,” Rick pleaded.

Abandoning the dufflebag, Daryl went to the bathroom to retrieve his toiletries. 

“Please Daryl, did I do something wrong? Is it because we lost the championship? Is it because of Blake?” 

At that, Daryl squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his fists. Rick went to him and wrapped a hand around his arm.

“Daryl, we ain’t like that. You  _ know  _ that.”

Nodding his head, Daryl said, “I know that. But no one else does.” He shrugged out of Rick’s hold and zipped up his bag.

“Daryl, please.”

But Daryl was deaf to Rick’s pleas and strode out of the room, his back straight and face hard. Rick hurried after him.

“Don’t do this, please. We can get past this. I don’t care what people think.”

Daryl stopped and turned to Rick, anger flashing across his face, “I care! I don’t want you going to prison ‘cause of me. I don’t want people thinking you’re a pedophile or a creep. I love you. I won’t ever love no one else. But I can’t do this to you.” A tear streaked down Daryl’s face, “Don’t you understand? This is hard for me too, but I just won’t let that happen to you. Not because of me.”

Rick held out a hand beseechingly, “It won’t! I won’t let that happen. You’re an adult, you make your own choices, Daryl.” 

“I know. That’s why I’m makin’ this one.” Daryl dropped the bag and let himself be folded into Rick’s arms, “You can go on being a baseball coach and I’ll go on being a mechanic. You’ll be all right, just without me.”

Deciding to try another tactic, Rick leaned his head forward and captured Daryl’s lips with his own. He tried to push all his love and feelings for Daryl into that kiss, to show Daryl that he wouldn’t give up without a fight.

Neither one of them heard the key turn in the lock. “I got bee…. _ WHAT THE FUCK?” _

Groaning in frustration, Rick let Daryl push him away. 

“It ain’t on him,” Daryl turned to Shane and immediately defended Rick.

“What do you mean ‘it ain’t on him’?” Shane asked, running his hand through his hair, “I just saw him holding you and kissing you! What the hell else have you all been up to?”

“It’s on me!” Daryl insisted.

Shane glared at Rick, but his words were for Daryl, “He’s the fucking adult, it’s on him, and he knows it. When did this start? Is this why you left Lori?”

Rick recoiled from that accusation, “Hell no. She kicked me out long before this and you fucking know she did. And this,” Rick motioned between him and Daryl, “didn’t start until after that.”

“So this has been going on under my own roof? After I gave you both a place to live?”

“Damn it, it’s on me Shane! I pushed him. He tried not to, but I wouldn’t let him.” Daryl said firmly, pushing into Shane’s personal space..

“He knows better, Daryl! He is strong enough to say ‘no’.” Shane insisted, stepping away from Daryl and getting in Rick’s face.

“Even if I came to him naked, and caught him when he was weak?”

“Even then,” Shane said as he looked steadily at Rick. Both of them remembering exactly why Andrea had left King County High School last year. Shane had been stronger than Rick.

“Look, it don’t matter anyway,” Daryl said, “I’m leaving. I got a job and a place lined up. I ain’t some snot nosed kid waitin’ for the grown ups to tell me what to do. And I’m not interested in ruining anyone’s life. So I’m out of here,” he shot a long look at Rick before turning and brushing past Shane and out the door.

Shane stared at the door for a moment before turning back to Rick, ready to lay into him some more. But as Rick slowly sunk to the floor, Shane’s resolve fled and he instead went to comfort his friend.

Rick was on the floor, a dazed look in his tear filled eyes, his pride fled to parts unknown. Lori wanting out had hurt, but this was like someone had hollowed out his chest and left him broken and bleeding. His soul bared and battered. Nothing, short of losing Carl, could ever hurt this bad.

**

Shane had spent the rest of the night just trying to get Rick off the floor and then after that, to drink something and then to talk about what had happened. It felt good for Rick to get it off his chest. And Shane swore he wouldn’t tell a soul. Said it was his penance for not knowing it was going on in his own home and putting a stop to it sooner.

Luckily, Rick had nothing on his calendar for the next week that Shane as assistant coach couldn’t handle. Ordering the trophies for the team dinner, getting with the team moms to set up the food and to make sure all the kids were there, were all done by Shane as Rick laid in bed and stared across the room at the bare bed that Daryl had occupied. 

Daryl seemed to disappear out of King County. No one knew where he’d gone. Shane said he’d called once to offer to pay some back rent, that Shane firmly refused, but hadn’t heard from him since. Rick resigned himself to Daryl not only moving on, but putting Rick and their time together behind him. 

After Rick managed to fake his way through the awards dinner (which Daryl did not attend), he got in his truck and drove off, no destination in mind. He drove through the night, avoiding the highway, and stayed at a cheap chain hotel, calling Shane at midnight to tell him not to worry.

He got up the next morning and did the same thing. Finally stopping when he saw some folks at a roadside park ball field playing a pick up game.  Rick pulled up to the back of the stands and got out and sat on the hood of his truck to watch through the slats, subconsciously thinking about how each player could improve. 

Rick was just thinking he should leave when he was approached by a man in a cleric’s collar, his dark, bald head shiny with sweat. “Excuse me, but aren’t you the coach that took that small high school to the playoffs this year?” King County, right?”

Rick slowly nodded his head.

The man reached out his hand, “I”m Father Gabriel and I’m the chaplain at St. Sarah’s college.” 

“Rick Grimes,” Rick said as he held out his hand. 

Father Gabriel took Rick’s hand, “We’re looking for a new baseball coach.”

“I don’t think I’m qualified to coach college ball,” Rick said as he ducked his head.

Father Gabriel smiled, “We’re not sending anyone off the the majors, just doing some extracurricular activities. Playing a sport and learning teamwork helps to build character. Most of our students go on to serve the lord in some capacity.”

“Oh,” Rick said. 

“No need to answer now. Go home and talk to the wife about it. And I’ll have to talk to the school board, but I think that you won’t have any trouble there.”

Rick looked back at the field and watched the players for a moment. He still felt hollow on the inside, the place where Daryl occupied his heart was a painful space that Rick tried not to dwell on too much. The thought of going back to King County High made him nearly nauseous. But he didn’t think he could give up the game. 

“Don’t have a wife for much longer, is that going to be a problem?” Rick asked.

Father Gabriel inclined his head in thought, “That’s a good question. Let me go back to the board and see what they have to say.”

Rick nodded his head.

“Why don’t I get your number, talk to the board, and I’ll call you if we have any questions. Maybe make it a formal interview.” Father Gabriel lifted an eyebrow, “If you are interested?” 

“Sounds good.” Rick wasn’t sure if this was the right move for him. But he knew that he couldn’t go back. Moving forward was the only thing he could do now. At least this way he knew there was no way he could accidentally run into Daryl. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, don't get out the pitchforks yet. There _is_ one more chapter!
> 
> And OMG, I just had a mini heart attack! I hit CTRL + X instead of CTRL + C! Luckily the back button worked or ya'll wouldn't have gotten a chapter tonight.


	36. Chapter 36

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And here it is. The last chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much everyone for all your comments, kudos, bookmarks, and all that jazz! You all make it worth it!
> 
> Thank you so very much to 1Lostone and TWDObsessive for their beta work! They are awesome. I tweaked this a bit after they looked at it, so any mistakes are mine.
> 
> This is a gift fic for my very good friend, TWDObessive. 
> 
> Shout out to the RWG! You all are the best! Thank you! Special thanks to Justley, KatytheInspiredWorkaholic, and April Valentine for all their late nights with me as I wrote this. I couldn't have done it without you!

“C’mon Carl!” Rick screamed at the top of his lungs.

Carl pushed hard and without warning fell on his stomach and reached out his hands to grab home plate just as the ball whizzed over his head.

The crowd around Rick erupted in cheers as Carl got to his feet and dusted off his jersey. He spared a wave as the ump called him safe and then jogged back to his dugout. Rick’s smile was a mile wide for his son.

Carl’s hit ended up being the winning run and the game was over at the end of the inning. It was the first game of the summer league and by the way things were shaping up, they had a good chance to win the pennant if not the whole championship. Rick had been so happy when Carl had put his foot down when he was six and told Lori he’d play baseball like his daddy, or nothing at all. Rick was certain that if Carl hadn’t switched to baseball they would have drifted apart.

“So, you ready for middle school this year?” he asked after loading up in the truck.

Carl nodded his head, “Yeah. It’ll be weird to have different classes all day though instead of staying in the same room most of the day.”

“You’ll get used to it,” Rick assured him.

They talked a bit more as Rick drove Carl home. Lori was on the porch waiting like she was every time Rick brought Carl back to her house. She still checked to make sure Rick hadn’t damaged their son too, even though now Carl shrugged off her worried looks. Rick waved as he backed out of the driveway. They rarely talked anymore. Carl had become adept at conveying messages.

It would be an hour’s drive back to his place, after the two days of driving he’d done all those years ago, he’d actually only ended up on the other side of the next county over. It was far enough from his old life that he didn’t see reminders everyday, but it was close enough that he could see Carl whenever he wanted. And since Lori wasn’t big on the baseball, that also meant that Rick could go to all Carl’s games without worrying about dealing with her. 

He was head coach at St. Sarah’s and loved it. He’d actually taken classes there so that he could get his doctorate and now could teach English there as well. And although they would prefer that Rick be Catholic, they were willing to overlook it since Rick lived like a boy scout. It was a good life. Even if he did still look across from the dugout to the pitcher’s mound wistfully on occasion. 

No one but Shane had ever known about Daryl. And as far as Rick knew, Shane had kept his mouth shut about it. Shane was the head coach at King County High now, and had taken the team to several playoffs and one championship. He kept Rick up to date on all the happenings at the school whenever they’d meet up for drinks. But he steadfastly refused to talk about Daryl. “Best forget about that,” he’d say. And Rick knew he was right. Even if Rick had never even tried to find someone else. 

Not that Shane hadn’t tried to set him up with anything on two legs over the age of twenty one over the last few years. A constant parade of women and men in all shapes and sizes, some even vetted by Shane himself, but Rick always politely turned them down. There was only one person he wanted and that person had made it clear he didn’t want to be with Rick. It didn’t matter what the reason was. 

So Rick was single. And lived in a little brick house just off campus and was happy enough. Between school and baseball, and Carl and Shane, Rick’s life was full. Or nearly so. 

There were some evenings that he’d look over at the other side of his bed and imagine a person with broad shoulders and messy hair. Maybe a few lines on that face now, or a whisper of gray in a scraggly beard, but it was still the one person Rick missed in his life. The person he hadn’t ever tried to replace.

He was pulled from his maudlin thoughts when he tried to shift into fourth gear and instead just heard a terrible grinding noise. Fourth had been giving him trouble lately, he’d planned on getting it to a shop, but just hadn’t done it yet. Daryl had done such a good job fixing it all those years ago that Rick hadn’t had a lick of problems out of it until lately. And now he was paying the price. Rick tried to put it back down in third in hopes of limping home, but that didn’t work either. 

Cursing, he coasted into a parking lot and got it stopped. Rick got out and looked under the truck and thankfully it wasn’t wasn’t puking any fluids on the asphalt. Pulling out his phone, he searched through his contacts list and then hit the number for his roadside assistance insurance.

It was full on dark when the tow truck got there. Rick told the guy he didn’t know of a repair shop to take it to, so the driver offered to take it to a place he knew and then would take Rick home. That sounded like a fine plan to Rick.

The garage was dark and closed when they got there. The driver maneuvered the truck into an empty spot and then called and left a message for the shop owner so he would know what was up. Rick heard the phone ringing from inside of the shop all the way out in the truck.

Tired and hungry when he got home, he ate and then went to bed. He’d have to call Shane first thing in the morning to get a ride so that he could sign paperwork for the place to start working on the truck.

Rick was surprised when Shane flat refused to take him the next day, “Ain’t doing it bud. Might as well just have ‘em junk it. I’ll take you out and get you a shiny new truck. Don’t know why you hang onto that thing anyway. It’s older than Carl.”

“Not the point,” Rick told him, switching his cell phone from one ear to the other, “It’s my truck. I’ll drive it until it rusts out from under me.” Not to mention it was the truck that Daryl had rescued and fixed for Rick. It was about the only thing he had that reminded him of Daryl. Getting rid of the truck meant letting go of the last tangible reminder of their time together, and Rick just couldn’t do it. 

“C’mon man, that thing probably has more miles on it than the team bus. And that thing is older than me and you!”

“Shane, it’s important to me. You know?” Rick said softly.

“Rick, you need to let it go. I know why you don’t want to get rid of it, I do. But maybe it’s time to really move on. You guys were only together for a few months. I know you won’t let yourself get over him, and holding onto this truck isn’t gonna help.”

“Fuck you, Shane. I’ll get someone else to take me.” Rick hung up his phone and threw it on the couch. Shane had told him almost the same thing every time Rick brought up Daryl. He understood, he wasn’t really proud of what had happened. But he couldn’t help how he felt, even after all these years. 

Running his hands through his hair, Rick paced back and forth in his living room, his bare feet slapping on the hardwood floor. He’d have to call Shane back and apologize, maybe even go over and order some pizza and drink some beers. But he wasn’t going to do that for a few days. The bad part about Shane knowing about Daryl was that he knew too damn much and would pick at that scab whenever he could.

Resolving to work things out with Shane later, Rick picked up his phone and dialed it. “Hey Father Gabe, I hate to trouble you, but I need a ride…”

In the light of day, Rick could make out more of the shop. Well, as much as he could behind a curtain of trees. He couldn’t see any of the signage with the way they surrounded the place. The lack of advertising didn’t seem to affect business though, there were several cars that clearly needed to be worked on all around the building and four cars in the bays on lifts. Whoever the guy was that ran the place must work on referrals and repeat customers.

As Father Gabriel pulled his very practical minivan into the parking lot, Rick could see his truck still parked where the tow truck driver had left it. A pair of denim clad legs stuck out from under the driver’s side door, so someone was already looking at it. Rick thought that was a good sign seeing as there were plenty of other vehicles that were here first.

“Rick, I’ve got to run to the store and pick up some canned goods. Would you be alright here for a while?” Father Gabriel asked.

“Yeah, don’t know how long I’ll be though. I’ll call you if something comes up.”

Rick thanked him for the ride and hopped out of the van to stride over to his truck. He stopped near enough that the person under it could hear him, but not crowd the guy. “How bad is it?”

The legs stiffened up and then they haltingly started working the man out from under the truck. Rick’s friendly smile slowly fell from his face as a set of broad shoulders worked their way free. And then he saw blue eyes hiding behind dark sandy hair, and his mouth fell open. “Daryl.”

Daryl hauled himself to his feet and leaned his back against the truck, “Knew it was your truck. Didn’t know you still had it.”

Rick reached out a hand involuntarily, wanting to touch, but pulled it back firmly, “I couldn’t ever get rid of it.”

Daryl snorted, “Shoulda a long time ago, Rick.”

Looking down at his toe scuffing the pavement like a child, Rick said, “It’s all I have left of us.”

“Don’t,” Daryl shook his head and looked away. He wasn’t looking at anything in particular, just not at Rick.

“Look, if it makes it easier on ya, I’ll call roadside and ask for a different shop,” Rick offered.

“The hell you will. That’s all I need, someone not wanting me to work on their shit and I get a bad rap,” Daryl said fiercely. 

“I don’t want this to be awkward,” Rick confessed.

Daryl shook his head, “Won’t be. I’ll get it fixed for you. It’ll be a few weeks, gotta order a new transmission. This one’s shot. It’s a wonder it didn’t leak transmission fluid all over the place.”

“Thank you,” Rick said with relief.

“Just go and leave your number and stuff with the office and I’ll...I’ll have someone call you with the quote.” 

Rick nodded his head again. “Thank you,” he repeated. 

He stayed standing there though, his eyes drinking their fill of what he hadn’t seen in a long time. Daryl looked the same, but different. His hair had darkened, and he looked more road weary, just like Rick suspected. His shoulders were still broad, but the rest of his body had filled out more. He’d definitely lost that too thin look that he’d had at eighteen. Now there was just a hint of a beer gut going on, Rick thought he carried it well.

Daryl licked his lips, “Staring is making it awkward, Rick.”

“Right,” Rick turned towards the building and then looked back at Daryl and stuck out his hand as though to shake and then changed his mind and dropped it as Daryl held out his.

“Still awkward, Rick.” There was a hint of a laugh in Daryl’s voice now. 

Rick chuckled, “I’m sorry. Just you were the last thing I was expecting to see today. I’ll go and leave my number. A few weeks you said?”

“A few weeks for the transmission, and hopefully I’ll be ready to work on your truck by then. We’ve been busy. But I’ll do my best to get you done as soon as I can.”

“Don’t rush on my account.”

“I just don’t want a bad Yelp review. Those things never go away.”

Rick felt warmth travel through his body. Once they got past the nerves, they fell right back into their easy camaraderie they’d had before. It was nice.

Daryl was the one to stick out his hand to shake this time, Rick took it and held it firmly. He tried to ignore the fission of lighting that shot out from his hand to the rest of his body. And he might have imagined that Daryl had a similar reaction, but he didn’t think so by the way that Daryl’s eyes widened at their touch. 

“So, I’ll just go give them my number and wait for your call,” Rick said as he reluctantly let go of Daryl.

Rick turned and walked away, proud of himself for not looking back. It helped that he could see Daryl’s reflection in the window of the office. He smirked as Daryl looked down at his hand and then wiggled his fingers as though it were numb. 

It didn’t take long to give the guy behind the counter his information. He looked vaguely familiar, but then again, most of the folks in this county did since he grew up here and then taught high school for four years. 

He checked his watch and noticed it had only been a half an hour since Father Gabriel had dropped him off. Thoughts of sitting in the waiting room  _ awkwardly _ chased him out and then down the street. Gabriel couldn’t be too far away as they were in a pretty retail heavy area. A quick call confirmed he didn’t have far to go. 

Once he met up with Gabriel, he called around and arranged for a rental car. No one offered a stick shift that wasn’t a sports car way out of what he was comfortable paying. He settled for a mid-sized sedan and hoped he wouldn’t lose his mind driving with two pedals instead of three.  

A week later and he thought he could still feel Daryl’s hand in his if he tried hard enough. He’d even had to jack off every night with the image of Daryl’s broad shoulders in his mind’s eye. He could just barely remember what it felt like to have Daryl inside him and it made him want to weep with the want of it. 

It was late, past midnight, when his phone rang. Usually Rick put it on ‘do not disturb’ but he’d forgotten because he’d been daydreaming about Daryl again. So he was surprised when it rang, an unfamiliar but local number on the screen. Thoughts of Carl being hurt ran through his mind as he picked up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Rick?”

“ _ Daryl? _ ”

“Yeah, sorry to call so late,” Daryl said sheepishly.

“Is there something wrong with the truck?” Rick asked in alarm.

Daryl huffed out a laugh, “No, still sitting where ya left it. Waiting on the transmission still.”

Rick sat up in the bed, “Oh?”

“Listen, it’s taken me all week to work up the nerve to call. And I just wanted to say,” Daryl broke off and Rick thought he heard a muffled sob. “I’m sorry. I thought you would find someone and I could let you go knowing that. I mean, I always just figured I was more into you than you were into me.”

“Daryl,” Rick breathed out his name like a prayer.

“I ain’t never found no one else. No one like you. And I tried staying away, let you find someone new. Shane...Shane said he would find someone for you so I wouldn’t have to worry.”

Rick cursed Shane in his head. That prick had known all along that the garage belonged to Daryl. That’s why he wouldn’t take Rick.

“Shane’s an idiot. I never wanted anyone else. You have to know that Daryl. No one.”

There was a long pause on the other end of the line, Rick could almost hear Daryl thinking. “But then you came by, and you looked so good and you were being a dumbass. And...I don’t know what to do,” he finally said.

Rick saw the ledge and took a leap, “Why don’t you come by and we can talk about it.”

He held his breath while he waited for Daryl to answer. Finally, “Yeah. Yeah, I think I will.”

After giving Daryl his address, Rick hung up the phone and let out a slow breath. He hurried out of bed, almost tripping in his haste. Whole body trembling, Rick hurried to the shower. He wasn’t expecting much more than talking, but it didn’t hurt to be prepared. 

Halfway through his quick shower the tears started. They didn't last long though, because they soon turned into whoops of joy. He was going to get Daryl back.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, a few things.
> 
> TWDObsessisve _**really**_ wants me to write one more chapter, just for smuts sake. And I will, but it will most likely be a one shot as part of a series (but that's it!).
> 
> I know some of you were worried about the time jump, but I really think Daryl had to grow up a bit more before they could really get serious. Also, don't be too pissed at Shane for keeping them apart, he really was only trying to protect Rick. 
> 
> And if you remember several chapters ago when I said I hadn't met my goal and I was upset with myself, what I was unhappy about was that I couldn't get the chapter to at least 3k. I really wanted to do that for every chapter, but I guess I still have to write a lot more fic before I can be that good. 
> 
> I started this way back in the summer of 2015 and then set it aside for over a year. I picked it back up around this time last year, so that's a total of about 18 months that I worked on this (give or take a few months), which is probably the longest I've ever worked on a fic.
> 
> Not sure what I will work on next. Can't decide between another historical Rickyl or maybe try another Drarry. Thoughts?
> 
> Thank you again for your support as I posted this. I'm humbled by the response it has gotten. 
> 
>  
> 
> _hugs_

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I'll probably add tags as we go along, I just hate giving too much away. But rest assured, there will be smut. I mean, c'mon...it's me! And this fic is for TWDObsessive. So yeah, smut eventually.


End file.
